Wolves and the Knight
by SomeCrazyDude1113
Summary: The city of Gotham grows silent, as the Joker has gone overseas and kidnaps two children with unique abilities. Their mother, Hana loses all hope of seeing them again, until visited by a dark vigilante who has followed the Joker and wants to know why he would abduct her children. What is Joker up to? What is the Dark Knight really up against? (T For violence, suggestive themes)
1. Author's notes

**Author's Notes**

First off, I'm going to try and not make this story as dumb as it sounds.

BATMAN UNIVERSE: I'm combining the 'Batman animated series,' and 'Arkham video game series" for the cross over. So it will be Kevin Conroy as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and none other than Mark Hamill as the iconic voice of the Joker,with the exception of Lucius Fox who will be played by Morgan Freeman.

CHRONOLOGY: This story is to take place two years after the events of 'Wolf Children,' but before the events of 'Arkham Asylum.'

**_Special thanks to_**

**Bruce Timm, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hammill and Warner Bros.**

Who where apart of the best cartoons ever!

**Mamoru Hosada **

Who has yet to make a bad anime movie (or so I've been told)

**WOLF CHILDREN CREATED BY MAMORU HOSADA**

**BATMAN CREATED BY BOB KANE**


	2. Prologue

**A City in Silence**

**Prologue**

A full moon looked down upon the city skyline in front of a horizon of black clouds gracing a red canvas. Atop one of these gothic and archaic high-rises haunched a dark figure that was perched as a bird of prey on an old protruding, stone eagle. His cape caught the light breath of the wind which wrapped around in front of him and fluttered listlessly. His cowl had two large points that jetted from the back of his head, making him look as a horned demon. His white, intense eyes, scanned the maze work of intersections below, looking, waiting.

He put his two fingers behind his jaw and pressed down then said, "Alfred, has Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD found anything yet?"

Through the static an elegant, english voice of wisdom and intelligence responded, "No Master Bruce. I am sorry."

The deep voice came back, "Patch me in to Barbara."

"As you wish sir."

After a moments pause, a young, female voice spoke, "I'm here Bruce, what do you need?"

"How are things on your end?" asked the caped crusader.

"It's all quiet, I've been in contact with Tim who has searched every warehouse and sewer in Gotham, but he's come up empty handed."

"Something's wrong Barbara,' said the dark figure, 'It's been two days since the break out."

"Is it really that burdensome to you sir?' asked Alfred, 'perhaps they have rehabilitated themselves giving you the night off."

"Not likely, the city has been too quiet. I don't like it."

"Of course you don't sir…" said Alfred dully.

"What if they left the city?" interjected Barbara.

"That's something I'm willing to consider." said the dark knight.

"If they have, how will you find them?" asked she.

The figure then stood straight up, "I can find out, at least, where one of them is."

"How do you plan on doing that?"

He raised his left forearm up and began typing in a series of buttons then said, "He's most likely left me a postcard."

The morbid delineation then leapt with grace from the parapet and dove straight down. Windows and clothes liners zipped past him furiously as the crimson sky became obscured from view. When vastly approaching the ground, he opened his cape out like a canopy, breaking the speed of his fall and allowing him to gently land on one knee. He stood and looked to his right at the sound of a powerful V-12 engine roaring towards him. From around the corner, headlights flooded the dark streets, until they faced our masked vigilante and rapidly approached him. The vehicle stopped, in front of him, as the canopy opened automatically. He vaulted into the drivers seat then closed the canopy and said, "disable auto-drive." He then shifted into first and peeled out down the street.

As the demonic automobile blazed down the road with ungovernable speed, the feminine voice came in on intercom.

"Batman, I found something."

"What is it Oracle?"

"According to the latest police report, they were able to find the source of the security breach back at Arkham and Black-gate."

"What did they find?"

"Apparently the algorithm that hacked into their systems was from an international source."

"Have they been able to track it?"

"It doesn't look that way."

"Send the information to the bat computer, I'll take a look."

"And where are you off too?" asked Oracle.

The dark knight's brow furled, "To visit an old friend."

He switched his receiver off and hit the accelerator which left a great tail of fire behind the wheels.

At a moment's length the bat mobile was found idling in front of an abandoned amusement park. Batman flicked a series of switches above his head and said, "Scan for hostiles."

The touchscreen on the center console displayed a radar system. After the needle made a series of rotations the automated voice returned, "No anomalies detected."

The awning then opened, and the dark knight jumped out. He scanned the theme park's once lively amusements. The condemned roller coasters and galleries seemed desolate, the only sounds that could be heard were the squawking of the rusty ferrous wheel which tilted from the wind. Batman tapped his cowl causing a screen to drop over his eyes which displayed his groundbreaking 'detective vision.' A highly advanced ocular enhancement which sent and received ongoing relays from the satellites and the bat computer to his cowl, allowing him to see an x-ray type view of his surroundings. As it scanned, he saw the top right corner of his cowl, 'No hostiles detected.'

He switched it off and walked up to a ghastly structure with a grotesque entrance consisting of a menacing clown face with an opened mouth which served as the entrance. He opened the door and went inside the building with a broken sign above that read, '-ker's funhouse!'

The Dark Knight entered with caution and continued to peer around for any traps. He walked into the center of what appeared to be a large, abandoned warehouse. Suddenly a loud click was heard and a ray of light was shown on the wall in front of him. The caped crusader balled up his fists and readied his stance. After this moment of brief alarm, he saw that it was only a projector that canvased it's rays upon the wall. The recording was a black and white, sepia toned image of the very space in which Batman stood.

"HEE YAW!" screamed a crackly voice from off screen before a slender figure wearing a black ninja gee and mask jumped in view while swinging a katana around like a lunatic. The ninja then turned the sword upside down and rested upon it like a cane while peering into the camera.

"Kon'ichiwa Batman!' said the crotchety voice, with deranged enthusiasm. The ninja then pulled off his mask, revealing the whited out face and evil grin of the Dark knight's most formidable adversary. 'So you were that worried about me were you? That you came ALL this way just to see how i'm doin'." Then with a giggle, 'oh bats, I didn't know you cared!"

Gotham's protector watched with a grimace as the clown on screen continued his presentation. He then threw the katana off to the side with carelessness as the camera followed him over to a table with a small plate with sushi, sashimi and chop sticks atop it. He picked it it up and popped a piece into his mouth. Upon doing so, his face then turned to that of an ailing complexion as the taste and texture seemed to disagree with him. He forced it down with disdain, then recollected his villainous cheer.

"Sorry to disappoint you bats, but I'm not in Gotham anymore,' he then picked up another piece of sashimi and offered it to one of his henchmen who reluctantly refused. With a look of rage, Joker made a more forceful attempt for him to comply. The goon took it in and forced a smile, but then, overcome by nausea ran off screen and could be heard regurgitating.

"Anyway, I've gone to another playground, and there, gonna have some real fun! Oh where have I gone, what am I up to now? ooooohhhhh, questions, questions; If you watch closely, I have secretly put in this video, discrete yet mere impossible hints to tell you where I am."

Joker's arm then extended as his mistress, Harley Quinn, strode up beside him, wearing a slanting Kabuto. With an arm around her waste, Joker gave his closing remarks.

"Awww don't be sad bats! Unlike the others, I left you a parting gift. Here's a hint, it starts with a ten, and ends with a BANG!"

He then threw his head back up towards the ceiling and made one of his infamous, loud mouthed laughs. The lights turned on, and Batman found himself surrounded by colorful ribbon boxes, teddy bears and chattering teeth, all rigged with dynamite with a timer with a ten second mark. He turned and saw the door become barred with an automated sliding beam.

Onscreen Harley blew a kiss and said, "Soyonara, B-man!"

With only seconds left, Batman ran towards the wall that had a stretch of windows at the brim. He withdrew his grapple and shot it at the ledge. As the motor began to pull him up, he double tapped a small button next to the thumb which accelerated his ascent three fold. With less than five seconds, Batman detached the hook when at the top and was sent propelling through the glass. He turned his shoulder and shielded his face as he broke through the casement.

No sooner was he clear on the other side that a defining explosion rattled the air and sent an orange cloud through the frames. He sheltered himself from the blast with his cape, whose materials contained a fire retardant compound, while falling to the earth. The concussive shock pushed him forward, he still managed to expand his wings to reduce the impact. He hit the ground with a grunt and came rolling to a stop. He got to a knee and looked up at the burning building which was engulfed by a bright conflagration, which illuminated the entire property of the fair grounds. His suit and cape were singed and cut with shards of glass perforating within.

"Batman, Batman!? BRUCE! Can you Hear Me!?" Shrilled Oracle

"I'm fine Barbara." said our escapee.

She sighed a great sigh of relief then asked, "What happened? I thought you were checking up on the Joker."

"I did, he left me a 'going away' present." he returned with a dark sense of humor.

"So that's what that was. Where could he have gone off to?"

The dark Knight turned to his vehicle and began walking while saying, "He's gone to Japan."

"What!? Is that were the others went to as well? What does it matter? Why would the Joker go to Japan?"

"I don't know Barb.' said the caped crusader as he clambered into the bat mobile, 'but I'm going to find out."

As the bat mobile secured it's driver, Oracle asked, "Wait, why would Joker tell you where he's going?"

"Because,' said Batman with subtle intensity, 'he wants me to find him."

The rear tires of the dreadful vehicle then spun up dirt as the bat mobile made a half donut and roared off into the night.


	3. The Party Guest

**Chapter 1**

**The party guest**

A bright sun shown forth over omnipotent mountains which displayed their lustful ornaments of luscious greens and solid stone. At the mercy of these gentle giants, was a rural community of farmers. Though few in number and far in between, this community thrived on trust and good standing friendships. Generally accepting and looking after all those who choose to live within their domain, the people here found peace and reward in their hard work.

One such resident could be found laboring in a small field just a few small leagues from her house. It was a modest structure of oriental design; single leveled with sliding doors and hard wood floors with the grandeur of it ranging to approximately 18,000 square feet. While it's owner was a younger woman of about thirty five years of age, trim figure, with brown air that went to her shoulders.

She tilled the ground with unconfined excitement as she eagerly awaited a specific hour. After wiping the sweat from off of her brow, and fanning her forehead with her gardeners hat, she found it meat to step inside to find a recess from the sun. Once inside, she removed her gloves and switched on the radio as she began to prepare her house. She began with sweeping the front steps then looked off at the calendar to be sure that her senses did not bewitch her. The rows of the calendar had a series of marked off days until they came to a day in April that said, 'Yuki comes home!" with stars dancing about it. She then went to the laundry room and began folding a white, long sleeved shirt and pants.

The radio announcements caught her attention as they strayed from the weather report, saying, "_ And in international news, The city of Gotham, America's most dangerous city, has suffered a massive jailbreak from, not one, but two of their most infamous penitentiaries; Arkham Asylum and Black-gate prison. Though not confirmed at the moment, most of the inmates have been returned to finish their sentences, with the exception of their most notorious criminals, who are still unaccounted for, and presumed at large. Mayor Hamilton Hill, and police commissioner James Gordon say that the situation is well at hand and that the people of Gotham should have nothing to fear."_

The woman sighed with worrisome sympathy for the people living in the city thus mentioned. How grateful was she, that she had chosen to live in the country, away from the chaos and tumult. She then left the shirt neatly squared atop the pants with a pair of sandals off to the side, all properly arranged, in front of the steps. She then went into the kitchen to clean the dishes as the broadcast continued.

"_And in related news, Gotham's most outstanding citizen, Bruce Wayne, president of 'Wayne enterprises,' and co founder of 'Wayntech,' is expected to arrive in Tokyo later today to meet with police forces there. This meeting is said to help bring an end to organized crime by introducing the National Police Agency to the latest technology and software, created by Wayntech, that has been used by the Gotham City Police Department. Mr. Wayne states that he wishes to give the people of Japan the same hope of a brighter future that Wayne enterprises has for Gotham."_

She returned with a clean stack of plates in her arms and arranged them on the table with napkins and silverware in accompaniment. As she walked over to the radio she heard a final say on the matter between the two anchors, "_Of course Benjiro, should the NPA expect a flying man bat as part of this new police reform?"_ They both chuckled before switching it off.

She shook her head with disapproval and said to herself, "Such a strange city."

It was then that she found another standing in the door way, wearing the sandals, shirt and pants that were laid out for him. "Ame!" said she with excitement as she went over to him.

He was a young man of about thirteen years of age with black, waving hair that covered his ears.

"I didn't think you would come!" said his mother as they hugged tenderly before she added, "Your sister should be here any moment."

Despite this touching reunion, the boy referred to as Ame had a contemplative look on his face. His mother looked at him and asked, "Is something the matter? I thought you would be happy."

"On my way down I found something." said he with a disturbing tone.

"Like what?"

"A deer carcass that was torn apart and half eaten."

"Are you sure it wasn't a bear?"

"Mom, there's something out there, unlike anything I've ever seen." finished Ame with a somber gaze.

"Well I'm sure it's….' she paused as the sound of a diesel engine could be heard blustering off in the distance, "Do you hear that?!" she exclaimed. His mother then ran off down the dirt path leaving the young man staring off into the distance.

The bus pulled away leaving a young girl of fifteen in a blue school uniform with a red handkerchief standing in the wake of dust.

Through the cloud of grit, her mother could be seen jumping and waving, "Yuki!"

The eldest daughter ran over to her and had a more affectionate embrace than that with the boy. As they walked back up the pathway, side by side, the woman asked, "So how has school been?"

"Mom, don't you get any of my letters?" asked Yuki.

"That doesn't keep me from asking anyway." said her mother with a smile.

From behind an old crackly voice called out, "Miss. Hana!"

They turned to see an old man standing in the door way of a small white pickup, staring at Hana, who greeted him back warmly, "Mr. Nirasaki, how nice of you to drop by." '

"I'm not dropping by!' said he with a typical, elderly backlash common to an ornery senescent man, 'I heard Yuki was coming home for spring break and I thought you could use these." He then held up a white burlap sack. Hana sent Yuki over to retrieve it from him, when she delivered it to her mother, Hana asked, "What are they?"

"Some Taro Roots, I figured you would want them seeing how you'll have another mouth to feed for the next two weeks."

With a modest smile, Hana bowed and expressed her thanks, "Much appreciated Mr. Nirasaki!"

The old man then got in his pickup and drove off without saying another word. Mother and daughter made their way back to the house where Ame sat waiting. He and Yuki looked at each other a moment as they approached. The boy arose and stood in front of his sister with his head haunched and hands in his pockets.

"I heard you were coming down, so I thought I would…just…" said he to her as he could only look at the ground with reserved emotions.

She stood there before she simply wrapped her arms around him in gratefulness, "I'm glad you're here." she whispered.

As the small family walked up the steps into there lodgings, Ame asked, "So….how has school been?"

"Why don't you come next year and you can see for yourself?" said Yuki.

"Because I'm needed here." said Ame with agitation.

"Sorry I thought you were interested." said she with a smear.

"I was just curious that's all."

"Well, maybe if you visited Mom more, you could find out from all the letters I've sent."

"Ok you two, that's enough." said Hana.

As the children sat at the table while their mother prepared lunch, Yuki asked, "So how's the mountain?"

Ame gazed at her then said, "Now that you mention it…" suddenly, off in the distance, a roaring snarl of the most unnatural nature, resonated in the air. Ame stood and went to the door, while his Mother and sister stood behind with a bewildered expression.

"What was that?" asked Hana.

"I don't know,' said Ame, then looking back, "I'm going to check it out."

He then went down the steps with his sister chasing after him, "Ame please don't go, can't it wait? Let me come with you."

He stopped and turned, "No, stay here with Mo…"

This time another sound was heard, but more bizarre. It was the chimes of carnival music that grew louder as the vehicle producing it, drew nearer. The music was 'The Entertainer,' by Scott Joplin. Yuki and Ame took a step back as the melody was coming up the dirt pathway that led to their house. Hana slowly went down the steps as a large, white, boxy van pulled up next to the house. On the side of it was lettering saying, 'Jacko the clown,' the rear sliding door then opened as a large man with mime makeup on his face got out with a clipboard.

"Are you Yuka, or Yukia-eee" he asked of the girl.

"It's Yuki." she corrected.

"Whatever,' then dully said, 'on this special day, we would like to…"

From out of the van where the man stood, came a gloved hand in purple and grabbed the scruff of his collar and pulled him close. Sharp whisperings could be heard before he was released. The man, then with wide eyes, changed his presentation.

"On this special day!' said he with nervous enthusiasm, 'you are all to be treated by his clooliness, Mr. Jacko the Clown!"

"It's Clownliness!" corrected a goofy yet unsettling voice, as a man dressed in a purple suit and yellow suit vest jumped out of the van. His face was white with blood red lips with lipstick sloppily jetting from the corners of his mouth and on his cheeks, while his slightly receding hair was a lime green. He grimaced at his employee, and whispered, "Idiot!"

Then looking at the children, smiled and said, "Ha, don't mind him kids, we're still going to have LOADS of fun! From your best pal, Uncle- J!"

Yuki and Ame stared at him, then at each other, with eyebrows high up. Hana stepped down, "Excuse me, I don't recall inviting entertainment."

"Whaaaat!?" exacerbated the clown with a cross of hurt feelings and confusion, "Well let's see here." said he as he took the clipboard and ran his finger up and down it.

"Oh no, it says right here, 'Party for Yuki's home coming,' I'm sure we have the right place."

"Look, I appreciate the gesture, but"

"Of course you'd appreciate a jester!' interrupted the clown, 'That's why we're here! HA HA HA HA!" laughed he like a hyena.

While running her fingers through her hair Hana said, "Well, aren't you a joker…"

He then gave a pleased yet eerie grin, and said with heinous satisfaction, "Ya got that right, tuts!"

"What are you going to do exactly?" asked Yuki.

The Jester put his hands together and held them next to his face, leaned over and said, "Oh lucky you should ask, I'm here to give you a special present.' then turning to the van, 'Ok boys bring it in!"

One of the men extended the loading ramp from the van as two others holding a large cake carried it down. "Stop moving around!" said one, "I'm not." protested the other. "I'm not talking to you." he replied.

"Say, scamp,' said the clown, turning to Ame, 'you haven't said a word, what's wrong, cat's got your tongue!?"

"I don't like clowns." said Ame cooly.

"And why not?" cooed the unsettling stranger.

"They're crazy."

The humorist then went over to him with a look of offended rage, "WHY I'VE NEVER BEEN SO…!' then paused with a look of epiphany. He stood straight up with his hand on his chin in a contemplative posture, 'oh I suppose you're right, Ha ha!"

Then looking down upon him, "Just remember, you don't have to be crazy to be a clown,' then getting closer to Ame's face, whispered, 'But it does help!" with a wide smiled giggle he roughed up his hair and walked past him.

The clown then walked into the house, "Cozy!' then motioning to the men with the cake, 'Set it here boys!" said he pointing to the table before rudely clearing off the plates and silverware with a swipe.

Hana protested as she followed him in, "Mr. Jacko do you mind…?"

The dark comedian took her by the hand and bowed like a graceful gentlemen, "Please madam,' said he with a kiss atop her knuckles, then looking up with his eyes, 'call me, Joker!"

She gaped at him, unsure what to think of this specimen, for there was something within his witty character so salacious that it defied explanation. He then motioned for three of the four men in the van to come forth and light the sparklers on the cake. Yuki and Ame stood by their mother with baffled expressions. The men then stood side by side, each seemingly annoyed and uncomfortable.

Joker pulled from his coat, a baton, raised it, "and a one, and a two, and a one, two, three!"

In the melody of 'pop goes the weasel,' the men sang, out of tune, while not in sync, "_for your special day today, it will be unlike any other! A gift from your uncle-J, to mom, sister and brother!"_

They then parted after this terrible number, while a dissatisfied Joker leaned over to the one standing next to him, and said quietly, "Remind me to kill them later!"

The top of the cake broke free as a woman dressed as a black and red harlequin, with white face paint, black lipstick and eye mask applied, came forth triumphant.

"Ta-Da!" she said then looking at the perplexed family, began to sing with a curtsy, "_Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!_' (Joker rubbed his brow in frustration,) '_Happy birthday dear, Yuka-yuker-_uggghhhh-_Yooooouuuuuu! Happy birthday to you!"_

She threw her hands up high in a spectacled display, "Surprise!"

It was deathly silent after that. Hana then said, "Well, thank you, but I'm afraid the party is over, you can leave now."

Joker then stood in front of her with his hands behind his back, "Why my dear, delusional damsel, it hasn't even begun!"

"Uh-oh kids!' said the other woman, 'Looks like ma-ma's tryin' to crash the party. Mr-J doesn't like party crashers, do ya puddin'?"

"How right you are my dear Harley,' agreed Joker, 'how bout we get a laugh out of her!"

He then pulled out an old perfume bottle and pressed the billow with it facing Hana. A green mist engulfed her face, who then pulled back with a hand over her mouth as she began coughing.

Hana bent over as her hacking began to change. She started to giggle and chortle. Yuki and Ame were stunned at what they were seeing and hearing. Soon their mother was laughing uncontrollably. She held her ribs and dropped to her knees and chuckled so loudly that tears began streaming from her eyes and veins bulged from her forehead.

"Mom?" asked Ame.

Hanna looked up at him while still going off in a hysterical fashion, she then fell on her back, while laughing as if she were in pain.

"Now that's outta the way,' said Harley, who pulled from the base of the cake, a violet striped Bazooka and aimed it at Ame, 'let's see if ma-ma will let you play now!"

Yuki ran and shoved her brother from the line of fire as the canon discharged, hitting her with a type of projectile that expanded into a cluster of ribbons that bound her up like a Chinese finger trap.

"AME RUN!" she screamed.

Her brother made a hasty exit, abandoning his kin to the sounds of a laughing lunatic.

"You know what to do boys." said Harley to the henchmen. They bolted after him, withdrawing cords and ropes, for the purpose of restraining the boy. They followed him up a trail that led into the unscathed wilderness, until they stopped at a tree with unusual ornaments. Ame's pants, and shirt were draped over the branches.

One of the goons looked on them with uneasiness, "Gotta a nature boy here? Jeez, kid's got issues."

"Just shut up and find him!" barked another.

They cautiously picked their way through the foliage, scanning the thickets of trees and bushes, until they came to a small river that led into a pond.

"Hey guys, check this out." said one, pulling a sandal from the water line.

They nodded, "Come out, come out where ever you are!" they teased.

Just then, seemingly from out of nowhere, a growl came from beyond the shrubbery. They turned in fear as a wild animal leapt from cover and pounced on one of the henchmen. It was a gray wolf with a black main, that was snarling and lashing at the man's flesh.

"GET IT OFF ME!" he cried in hysteria.

They froze, unsure what to do, until a dart hit the beast in the thigh. With a whimper the wolf jumped off and ran upstream. Harley had arrived with a toy looking gun in her fist, "The hunt is on boys!" she said with excitement.

The wolf's pace began to slow as his body felt lethargic and his eyelids grew heavy. He stumbled and panted as the effect of the tranquilizer was becoming more apparent in his performance. Off in the distance he could hear Joker's voice singing, "_Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone? Oh where, oh where can he be? His eyes and his grin…..his shape shifting skin…..!_"

He began to walk weakly towards an area that had four large stones that were encompassed by the current, there he would use them as a means to cross the river, until he saw unnatural bubbles forming at the surface. He examined what may lie beneath until the water splashed high up with a roar. He jumped back but was seized upon by some large creature with green, scaly skin, yellow eyes and jagged teeth. The monster stood as a man but was at least twelve feet tall, and looked like an alligator. The wolf, fitting within its clutches, was brought in close to the monster's face. With demoniacal breathing, the creature spoke to the wolf with a deep gravely tone, "I've got your scent boy! I've been watching you, thinking your some 'king of the mountain' do ya?"

The wolf tried to kick free, but to no avail, his body was too weak and the beast's grip was too strong.

"You're nothing more to me, than a snack!" said the man beast tauntingly.

"Ah-ah chopper face!" came the voice of Harley as she came through the bushes, "Mr.-J needs him alive."

The alligator man grunted and threw the wolf to the ground. It's body shifted into the figure of a young boy, it was Ame, who was now completely sedated.

"CROC my boy!" addressed Joker as he and the other goons arrived at the scene. He looked down at Ame and said in an adoring fashion, "Isn't that cute, the little pups asleepin'!"

Then dusting off his suit, "Someone carry him to the van"

…

Some hours had passed and the house was desolate. The remains of the cake was still on the table with shattered plates and scattered silverware strewn about on the floor. Hana lay there, motionless, but still breathing. Eventually she opened an eye and slowly moved to her hands and knees. Her stomach and ribs were exceptionally sore and she felt fatigued beyond measure. She winced as she looked about the unfeeling atmosphere.

"Yuki….Ame….?" she said weakly.

Then getting to her feet and sluggishly walked around, "Yuki, Ame!?" she cried out with more alarm as the only response was the silence within the walls. She looked down and saw something at her feet, it was a poker card, face down. She retrieved it and flipped it over, then gapped in horror. It was the image of a jester with the words 'Joker' on both sides. She looked out and saw the white van was vacant from the entrance. With deranged panic she ran out to where it had once been parked.

"YUKI!…AME!" she screamed with all the waives of motherly fear in her voice. Hana then fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably. Within the house, written upon the walls of the living room in green spray paint, were the words, "HA! HA! HA! HA!"


	4. The Trojan Billionaire

**Chapter 2**

**The Trojan Billionaire**

"And with this extending hand to east from west,' said a man in black suit with black hair and blue eyes, 'I give you my promise that the people of Japan will be able to look to a brighter future as we do everything we can to build a safer and more secure society for themselves and generations to come!"

He stood behind a pulpit atop a platform with dozens of spectators in front, applauding and flashing their camera's.

"Thank you." he waived courteously before walking off stage.

He made it down a hall way with large windows overlooking a great and spacious city along side, until a voice called out to him.

"Mr. Wayne-son!"

He looked back and found a man in a tan overcoat jogging towards him. Wayne smiled and said, "Ah Chief Sitoshi! What can I help you with?"

Panting the man said, "I just wanted to congratulate you on this new expansion of your business and thank you personally for aiding us in our time of need."

"Oh please, Mr. Sitoshi, it was the least I could do." returned Wayne with modesty.

"We are very honored by your visit, but tell me; why do this for us?"

As they walked down the hallway together, Mr. Wayne declared, "When I was a younger man, I left Gotham, unsure what to make of myself, I was undisciplined and full of anger. I eventually came here to further my education. The lessons I learned here in Japan, have 'shaped' me into the man that I am today, and this is my way of giving thanks to a country that has taught me so much."

"Curious." said Sitoshi.

Just then Wayne felt a vibration in his pocket, he pulled out his phone and read the screen, 'do you have a moment? -O.'

"Excuse me chief, I need to take this call."

"Yes, Mr. Wayne-son, I see you are a busy man." he bowed then left the billionaire to himself. He called the number back and was answered by the voice of Oracle.

"I'm here Barbara." he said with less cheer and more sternness in his voice.

"I saw your speech on the international channel." she responded.

"I take it you're not calling to congratulate me."

"No, I'm checking up on you. Found anything?"

"Not yet, but with this installment, I'm sure something will come up."

"What did you do exactly?"

"I donated a series of servers and equipment to the NPA, each with a highly advanced tracking and cross referencing software system installed. Similar to what I use."

"And how does this help?"

"There was something else I left in the system's programming. A trojan."

"Oh I see, you're going to hack into their systems so you can get access to the Japanese criminal databases and police reports."

"Yes, when finished, You'll have unlimited access."

"Access is a girl's best friend. Now I have one other question, how did you get your, 'personal items' over there without raising too much suspicion?"

"I came over with four C-5's, the militaries largest aircrafts, designed specifically for transporting large amounts of vehicles and soldiers. Three of them had the servers and other equipment for the police, one was for me."

"So you brought a mini bat-cave to Japan?"

"Exactly, can't sleep without it."

"Ah there you are mister Wayne." said a kindly old voice behind him.

"I have to go Barb." Said he, then disconnected the call, "I'm glad you could make it Lucius." he replied to another man who entered the scene.

"What can I say, I've always wanted to see the land of the rising sun." said Lucius with a smile.

"How are things?"

"Good, good. We finished installing and distributing your donations. Let me just say that the upload is complete, you now have unrestricted access to every database in the country, all in real time."

"What of the special cargo?" asked Wayne with subtly

"That was a little tricky, but I managed to find an airport with an empty field just outside the city, and the owner let me park it there."

"You asked him if you could put a 400,000 lb aircraft in his backyard and he said yes?"

"Well,' smiled Lucius, 'I did give him a couple million yen."

"Thanks, don't forget to write that in the expense report." said Wayne as he walked away.

"I always do-and where are you off to, Mr. Wayne?"

He turned his head back and said stealthily, "I've got a plane to catch."

…

Just outside the city of Tokyo, a black Toyota MR2 convertible raced through the vacant backroads. Off in the distance, a gray C-5 rested in an empty field just a few kilometers from a small airport. The car veered off the road and barreled through the dirt, leaving a hazel cloud behind it. After approaching the aircraft the vehicle stopped under the wing before the driver got out. He looked out into the sunset through his tinted lenses before pulling out a small remote, then pointing it at the aircraft, pressed a small button. The nose began to lift automatically as it hinged above the fuselage, allowing a large loading ramp leading within to extend forward. He boarded the plane, when inside, a computer with several flat screen monitors was off to the side along with assorted containers of different shapes and sizes along with two large machines with tarps over them parked single file down the center aisle.

"On." said he, the computer then flickered to life at it's master's commands. He walked up to the keyboard then began to press a serious of buttons, in which the main screen brought up a loading bar. Soon after, the screen turned green with a checkmark in the back round while saying, "Upload complete."

He sat down, then punched in a few more commands. On one of the screens to his right, came the image of a woman with red hair in a ponytail, wearing thick, black framed glasses.

"Oracle,' he informed, 'we're in."

"So I see,' said she while looking off into her own monitor, 'So, what's our next step?"

Wayne leaned back with his legs crossed and rested his chin on his two index fingers, then said, "Joker has most likely gotten busy. I'm going to check any recent police reports in Tokyo that could match his M.O, I'll have you do the same with Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

"Why those cities?" she asked with a sense of gloom

"They were part of the Manhattan project back at the end of World War two. Joker's obsessed with death and mayhem, it could pay homage to his killing style." he said with that intellectually dark tone that only he could produce.

"Well, I'm taking a look see…" said Oracle, as Wayne did the same.

After a few moments, Barbara sighed, "I'm not seeing anything, what about you?"

"Nothing yet, but keep searching." he encouraged.

"Bruce how can we be sure that he came here?"

"He's here Barbara, trust me."

"Hang on, I found something." said Oracle with some excitement.  
"What did you find?" asked Bruce with a forceful air.

"An amber alert from a more rural region of Japan. At the moment all I have is that a woman claimed her two children were kidnapped this morning by a clown in a purple suit, driving a white van that said 'Jacko the Clown.' on it."

"A disguise Joker used once at a birthday party for Mayor Hill's son." said Bruce with precise timing.

"Sound's like a lead to me, I'll send you the coordinates." came her reply as she began typing away.

Bruce arose and turned to an oddly shaped, oval container. He placed his hands on a panel next to it, which sent a blue line scanning up and down his palm before bleeping out a tone in the affirmative. The canister then opened up, revealing a gray suit with a bat embroidery on the chest, yellow utility belt, black boots and gauntlets, complete with a cape and cowl. He undressed himself and began to re- suit in the gothic attire.

He walked up to the computer now dressed in something very different, while still letting the mask hang from his back. He made a few calibrations from the touchpad on his arm to his computer.

"Oracle, I'm heading there now, keep me posted on any more information that you may find." With that said, he pulled the cowl over his face, and threw a tarp off of a vehicle, designed for aviation.

The World's Greatest Detective had come to Japan.


	5. A Bat in the Rising Sun

**Chapter 3 **

**A Bat in the Rising Sun**

Over the shogun landscape covered by twilight, a small, black jet soared through the clouds. While carefully navigating with the yoke, Batman switched on his receiver then informed, "Oracle I should be there in five minutes."

Then inquired, "What else can you tell me concerning the victims?"

"Well, the mother's name is Hana, with two kid's in their mid teens, Yuki and Ame." said she with a tone hinting to something out of the ordinary.

"And…?" asked our detective catching on to her suspicion.

"Well there is something strange with their records."

"What is it?"

"That's the thing, there's nothing. Or should I say their records are very minimal. The earliest one on file concerning her kid's is when child services marked their mother for not having them vaccinated. There's nothing much after that, other than when she registered them for school. What I find interesting is that there are no hospital records concerning their births, or even birth certificates issued by the state for that matter. No mentioning of the father, in fact, it seems that she moved here shortly after being confronted by social workers. Apparently they haven't even been taken to a doctor."

"It sounds like she's hiding something." Returned Batman.

"I wonder what it could be." said Oracle with non-condemning curiosity.

"Whatever it is,' returned the dark knight, 'It's caught Joker's attention."

The aircraft then passed over the small, rural community. Batman twisted a knob, then pulled up on a lever. He crossed his arms and straightened his legs as he was ejected from the belly, sending him free falling to the earth. He went into a nose dive, with his eyes set on the rooftop of Hana'a house. He spread out his cape, which caught the wind and allowed him to control his decent. He glided in circles until he came to a running stop in the front yard.

He looked at the garden then at the red SUV parked in front. The lights were off , in which Batman radio'd, "Oracle, The mother doesn't seem to be here. In fact the police are no where to be found either."

She followed up, "I'm looking,…. hmm. Turns out that the police have taken her to Tokyo to have her examined and ushered into psychiatric care, but there's nothing else in the report, other than witnesses saying that she was acting crazy."

As the cimmerian detective walked inside, he informed, "I'm setting up a crime scene now."

He then switched on his detective vision and began scanning the room. Next to the cake and broken plates he found a powder. He stooped down and swiped it with his finger and began analyzing it.

"Oracle, I'm detecting small traces of gunpowder mixed with a material used for confetti."

"What does that tell you?" asked she with concern.

"That Harley Quinn has been here." returned Batman with an inarguable surety of his statement.

"What would Butch be without Cassidy?" replied Oracle with a sneer.

Batman then turned to see a residue that was detected by his cowl. He withdrew a small sample stick and began to scrap it from the floor. He sent the information to the bat-computer which gave him this conclusion when done computing.

"I'm detecting multiple elements, is that on your end?" asked Oracle, who shared a system link with Batman.

"I see it too. Adult female perspiration, combined with a similar, molecular compound found in Joker's laughing toxin."

Oracle gasped a little, "That explains why they thought she'd gone crazy. How is it that she's alive, isn't that stuff lethal?"

"In high enough doses.' returned Batman, 'Joker may have only wanted her out of the way, she's lucky to still be alive."

"See what else you can find." instructed Oracle.

The caped vigilante arose and continued to look around, upon coming across a book shelf, he noticed an I.D badge with the picture of a man with black, sagging hair and a five o'clock shadow, resting almost like a tombstone, by a flower vase. He withdrew the badge then said, "Oracle I'm uploading an image to you now."

"I see it, referencing now." she returned.

After a moments pause, Oracle said, "I think this is the father, apparently he attended the same university Hana did. Says here that he was a foster child, and used to work for a moving company in Tokyo before being terminated from employment for failure to show up for work."

"Anything on his parents, or family?" asked our vigilante.

"Other than they died when he was young, and he went off to live with distant relatives. There's nothing after that."

"Interesting…"

Suddenly a clatter rang out from the kitchen, in which Batman turned and readied himself. From behind the counter, a small bowl rolled out and landed on one side. The dark knight then re-calibrated his cowl to detect humanoid signatures. Within the counter he found the figure of a small personage huddled within the cabinet.

He walked up to the small door and opened it. Inside, a young man shielded his face and recoiled in fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you." said Batman with his sincere yet intimidating tone.

The boy was a mid teen with brown, spiked hair. He timidly came out and stood toe to toe with the dark knight.

"Who are you?" asked the towering detective forcefully.

"My name is Souhei." said he while looking around nervously.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm a friend of Yuki's. We go to school together, I heard she went missing, so I came in through the back to see. Then I saw you and hid, I don't know what's going on."

After a brief moment, the lad then asked, "So, um, who are you?"

Batman fringed his brow, "Someone whose bad side, you don't want to be on."

At this time, Oracle came in on his intercom, "Bruce, I got something,' he turned around and began walking toward the exit, 'An intersection camera in Tokyo just flashed a white van that ran a red light. The picture is fuzzy, but it looks like the side of it reads, 'Jacko the Clown.' I'm sending you the last know position."

The caped crusader then stood out in the open, caressed by the moonlight. He lifted up his forearm and began pressing a few buttons.

Sohei followed behind, "So is it true?"

The vigilante turned his head slightly, as the boy continued, "My mom said that Yuki and Ame were kidnapped while their mom just laughed."

Ignoring the question, Batman sternly said, "Stay here, and stay out of trouble."

In fretting response, the boy asked, "What are you going to to do now?"

Looking up into the night's sky, the dark knight responded with cold confidence, "I'm going to get them back."

He then shot a straight line from his grapple towards the atmosphere, right as the sound of an after burner screamed overhead. Souhei jumped back at the the black figure in front of him was suddenly carried off into the air.


	6. The Gotham Connection

**Chapter 4**

**The Gotham Connection**

Though they could see nothing, they heard and felt everything, as Yuki and Ame were found blindfolded with their hands bound behind their backs, laying side by side in the back of the speeding van. They could hear honking horns as they were thrust from side to side as the van bounced and swerved unendingly.

"ow,' complained Yuki, then calling to the driver, 'Where'd you learn to drive anyway?"

"Shut up kid!" snapped back the henchmen in the driver's seat. The side passenger couldn't help but comment, "She's gotta point ya'know, you're driving worse than me when I'm drunk."

"I can't help it!' whined the driver in his defense, 'everything here is all switched around. The steering wheel is on the right side, the traffic is on the left, the traffic lights are sideways, what kind of stupid country is this anyway!?"

"Listen Bozo!' came the reproving voice of Harley, who sat in the back guarding the kids, "Mr-J wants ALL of us there in one piece, or it'll be you who'll be getting switched around!"

"uhh, y-yes ma'am." said the driver out of fear.

Eventually the van slowed and the children were pulled to the left as the vehicle made a sharp right into an alley. To the relief of Yuki and Ame, the vehicle came to a complete stop and the transmission was set into park. The next thing they knew, their faces were exposed to the cool night's air as the rear doors were opened. They felt human hands grab them and forced them from out of the van and had them walk a few leagues. They were then forced to their knees as their blindfolds were removed and found a most familiar purple suit and grin staring back at them.

"Greetings!" said Joker with a diabolically humorous air. "I hope you enjoyed the ride, I know I would have. Heh! Heh!"

"What do you want with us anyway?" asked Ame who seemed to become more irate.

"Well,' started Joker who put a hand on his chest, 'it's not totally what I want."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough!" returned the clown with the same eagerness when one withholds a surprise secret from another.

The goons got them to their feet, struggling back Ame declared, "I'm not going anywhere."

Fighting back, one of the henchmen warned, "Stop fighting kid!"

Ame then let out a growl and shook a little, Yuki, seeing his intent forbade him, saying, "AME NO!"

A partial change came upon the boy's physicality's, as his hand (which now had claws) ripped the cord that tied him down. Free from his restraints he slashed the forearm of the henchmen trying to coax him. Recoiling, he grasped his bleeding flesh, and yelled, "Son of a…. he scratched me!"

Ame then went for a strike at the Joker, who stuck out his hand, and said, "Put 'em there!"

His hand wrapped around Ame's wrist, no sooner than it had, that a strong electrical current shot through the boy's body. Crying in agony, Ame fell and coiled on the concrete.

Joker then pulled from his palm, a hand buzzer, "Oldest one in the book!" said he with a roll of the eyes.

The clown prince of crime then looked on Ame with a look of peculiarity. The boy lay gasping with his head down, his skin was covered in gray fur, while the top of his head had canine like ears protruding hence. He grabbed Ame's scalp and looked into his face, then with one eye about to burst a capillary from trembling rage, turned to his mistress. "HARLEY!"

"Yes Mr.-J?" asked she with an innocent composure.

"Wolves? Wolves?!' he bellowed in disbelief as he made his way over to her, 'They're wolf children? You told me they were hyenas!" (Joker was not present when Ame transformed.)

"I'm sorry puddin',' said Harley with a guilty, childlike tone, 'we just needed the money real bad…."

"You think I care about the money?!"

One of the goons intervened, "Hey boss, why should that bother you?"

Joker turned his attention on him and backed him against the wall, "Because you idiot, wolves don't laugh!"

"What's your point?" asked Harley with a hand on her hip.

Looking back at her, he said, "My point is, where's the fun? What's the gag? There's no punchline! I feel like I've wasted my time coming out here!"

"So…' said Ame weakly, 'you kidnaped us for money?"

Joker then slyly approached him, "So, the little doggy can talk eh?" He then got on his haunches and looked him in the eye, "Will the little wolf laugh for his Uncle Joker?"

Ame grimaced at him and flashed his teeth in denial at his request.

"Perhaps this will help." said Joker as he arose, then grabbed Yuki, and put a Ruger forty-five to the side of her head, and cocked the hammer back. Ame saw the alarm in his sister's face as Joker teased, "C'mon, be a good boy!"

Ame then bowed his head and said with much disdain, "Ha…ha…"

"After all the trouble I went through just to bring you here, this is how you repay me!?" said Joker with a hurt voice.

Harley got to her knees next to the boy and hugged him about the neck, pressed her cheeks against his, like a little girl who finds a puppy, "Awwww, he's so cute! Can't we keep him sweetie!?"

She then felt his face vibrate as he let out a growl and made a snarl as he snapped back at her. She recoiled and scurried away, "Hey!" came her exacerbation.

Observing the events, Joker then gave out, "Ha ha ha ha ha! Now that's funny!" He then let Yuki go and holstered his weapon, then pulled out a milk bone dog biscuit, "Here's for being a good boy!" said he as it was tossed at Ame's knees, who slowly changed back with a look of hatred in his eyes.

Joker then opened a sliding door that led into a dark and abandoned warehouse and had the children brought inside.

As they walked through the cold, dark storage area, they came to the middle of a lighted section, in which Joker called out, "Yoo Woo! Anybody home?"

In the distance they could hear a soft clipping sound on the hardened floor coming closer to them. From within the shadows called a coarse english voice saying, "I thought you weren't going to make it, my little punchinello."

The owner of the voice came into view, he was a short and pudgy little man with black hair, dressed in a fur overcoat, top hat and monocle, leaning against an umbrella. He had a cigar in his mouth then said while puffing, "Not much to look at are they?" referring to Yuki and Ame.

"Well don't let looks fool you,' said Joker, 'this ones a real minx!" he chided while patting Ame on the head. He would have lashed back, but one of the goons held an automatic weapon to his back.

The stubby man then walked towards Yuki who was still bound up from Harley's confetti wrap. The tip of his umbrella shot forth a bayonet, Yuki shuddered as the little fellow squawked, "Let's have a look at this one shall we?"

He then slit the the ribbons from her body, allowing her to move. He circled about her with a piercing eye, "Hmmm, I don't see the killer instinct, are you sure you're not mucking me about?" said he to the Joker, making the girl feel dehumanized.

"Only one way to find out!" said Joker, who pulled a white feather from his pocket and began to tickle Yuki's nose. "A goochi-goochi-goo!"

Yuki swatted the feather away, in which Joker only giggled. The little bird man then took off his hat and rubbed his brow, "You better be sure, I'm not one for human trafficking."

"Well very noble of you,' said Joker then extending his hand, 'if you will Mr. Penguin, I'll take the half up front."

Penguin then said, "You'll get nothing from me you cirque sole monstrosity, unless you can prove they're for real."

"Oh they're for real!" came a gravely voice that Ame immediately recognized. All turned to see Killer Croc come into the circle of light. "Though they may look human, they're freaks just like me!"

Yuki bowed her head and trembled as Ame hid his face. Croc then motioned over at the girl and said, "What surprises me the most about this one, is how hard she tries to act human, thinking that she can be normal."

"I am normal,….. I'm me…." said Yuki trying to keep the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

Croc growled in bitterness, "And you think people will accept you for that, despite your condition? That's what I used to think, but in the end I accepted what I was, and it's what you are too, an ANIMAL!"

Yuki's voice trembled, "It's not a condition, it's something unique about me."

Joker then put his arm around her, "Whatever you say kiddo, just remember that the neatest thing about us is also the strangest thing about us, ha ah!" he then turned his back.

From behind Joker heard a growl and felt something pulling at his leg, he turned to see a light brown wolf in a blue school uniform latched onto the hem of his pant cuff. Joker then began to shake his leg while yelling, "Bad dog! Bad dog! Get off!"

Then grabbing penguin's knife-umbrella said, "Let go you little….!"

Suddenly he was pounced on by Ame who had also turned over. They quickly began to flee from their captors until a loud bang left a smoldering dime sized hole in the ground in front of their paws. They looked up and saw in the darkness, the half profile of a man dressed in a white suit with a smoking gun pointed at them.

He then addressed them in a raspy tone, "You want out of here? Let's leave it up to chance!"

"What chance is that?" asked Ame with condescending sarcasm.

"Fifty-fifty." replied the gun wielder before walking fully into view.

To their horror, the entire left side of his face and body, was horribly scabbed and burned, it was as if a crimson skull served as the other half of his facade.

Twirling a coin about his fingers, the deformed being approached the wolves causing them to recoil in fear from the sight of this ghastly man.

"What happened to you?" asked Ame with repulsion at the sight of his face.

The man shot an evil gaze back at him, "The same thing that happened to you!" he snarled. Then after recollecting himself began saying, "Tell us, have you ever wondered what made you a certain way, or why you had to live the life you've lived?"

He haunched down in front of the furry siblings, and continued, "Some say it's fate, or the hand of God, but we've got the real answer, and it's as fair as it is cruel.' he then began to show them the two sides of a rare and unique silver dollar coin, 'Luck!"

"Think about it you little brats,' he started, 'if only mommy met someone else, you wouldn't be here. If our luck were better, we wouldn't be here either, but seeing how we are, that only makes us two sides of the same coin."

"We're nothing like you!" snapped back Ame.

Two face shot his attention upon the bold lad, "The only difference between you and us,' then turning the uglier half of his face more fully towards him, 'We can't hide our other sides, just like you can't hide what's underneath."

"Please,' pled the quivering voice of Yuki, 'we just want to go home!"

"That can be arranged." said Two Face with a smear.

"You're letting us go?" asked a bewildered Ame.

"Maybe we will, maybe we won't." returned the schizoid indecisively.

"What are you talking about?" asked Yuki with surging panic that was fueled by her confusion.

"It's not up to us!' caromed Two face, then holding up his silver piece, 'It's up to the coin."

He flipped it high in the air, caught it and turned it over on his opposite wrist. His fingers slid away showing a side that was singed black. He looked up into Yuki's shimmering eyes before she asked, "Does that mean we can go?" with weak hopefulness.

"Not this time…' mocked their deformed tormentor, who then stood and put the sights of his handgun on them, and demanded, 'get your filthy tales back there…now!"

They slowly walked back in the middle of the group, with their heads low and tails between their legs. Joker stood with his arms crossed while tapping his toe impatiently, as the wolf children succumbed to the demands of their captors.

Yuki could be seen with her eyes leaving great drops on the ground, while her brother also shared a similar hurt expression. Eventually they retook their human appearances, but remained silent.

"Well Mr. Dent,' said Penguin, 'you certainly do have a way with children."

"Or should he say,' added Joker, 'the two of you?"

"Shut it Clown!' barked Two face, 'I have half a mind to kill you, and another half that agrees! The only reason we're working with any of you is because of all the profit involved, or else we never would have come here!"

"That may be true Mr. Dent!' called a different voice, they all looked to see a man in a black suit holding a brief case, 'But need I remind you who brought you all here?"

"Speaking of which,' addressed Penguin, 'where is your employer?"

"He could not make it, so I have been sent on his behalf and has asked me to inform you that the bidding is about to go underway." He then flipped on all the lights which showed two giant cages in the back. "Now if you will please secure our guests."

Croc nodded and picked the two up against their will and threw them in the entrapments and locked the doors. The man in the black suit then said, "now that is out of the way, come with me, there is more that needs to be discussed."

The villains began to filter out, as they were exiting, Joker looked back and said to the two siblings, "Be good now and be sure to be on your best behavior for in an hour, it's showtime!"

He then laughed as we went out the door, leaving Yuki curled in a ball and sobbing while Ame could only sit there as helpless as his sister. He looked up and could not help but wonder, if there would be any who would come to their aid now.


	7. Mother Knows Best

(Bear with me guys, the end of the next chapter is when he action is going to start.)

**Chapter 5**

**Mother Knows Best**

From the cockpit, the caped crusader could see the city skyline of Tokyo off in the horizon, drawing closer. The voice of Oracle chimed in as she was continuing her cyber investigation. "Bruce, I have the van on satellite imagery and have tagged the address for you but I think you'll find this interesting…"

"I'm listening Barbara." said Batman patiently.

"Well two things,' started the female voice, 'I did some more research on this Hana, and it turns out that her lover transferred his life savings over to her before being fired, and that was thirteen years ago. It's like he dropped off the face of the earth, because everything Hana did after that, concerning buying a car and a house, was all in her name without the father co-signing."

"And…" returned the Dark Knight for her to continue her other findings.

"And I managed to decipher the code that hacked into Arkham and Black-gate, and it has Japanese origins."

"Seems like I came to the right place after all." returned Batman.

"Looks that way and…Hey!" Oracle called out in surprise.

"What is it?"

"The police report and the amber alert just disappeared along with the traffic photo of the white van!" said she with disbelief.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the file has been cleared from existence."

"That's not good, someone is covering Joker's tracks."

""Who?"

"The same person who broke Joker out of Arkham." said our detective, connecting the dots.

"I don't understand."

"Joker isn't acting alone,' rationalized our vigilante, 'someone must have hired him to do their dirty work, and is now erasing the evidence."

"Why hire the Joker to kidnap the kids of a single mother?" came Oracle's inquiring voice.

"Because there is something unique about these children that would make someone want them."

"Sir if I may….' came the voice of Alfred, who had been listening in, 'The only way to find out fully what is going on, is to have a talk with this Miss. Hana."

"Noted,' said he to his butler, then to Oracle, 'Can you tell me which hospital they're keeping her at Barb?"

"Hang on…..University of Tokyo hospital."

Batman then pulled the nose up and began climbing steeply into the atmosphere, breaking through the clouds.

"What are you doing?" asked Oracle.

"I had a few satellites installed around Tokyo, which might detect the bat-jet, at a high enough altitude I should be able to remain undetected. But I won't be able to rely on it once inside the city."

"Excellent sir,' responded Alfred, 'also a word of caution to remain discrete, for if you are discovered I doubt the spectators will assume you are cosplaying as one of Japan's famous monsters or cartoon characters."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He then took out an oxygen mask, and applied it to his face, and hooked the small air canister around his belt. For the air was too thin to breath at that altitude. After pressing in a few more commands, he ejected himself from the cockpit. Man and machine parted ways, as the jet piloted itself back to the C-5 while it's pilot dove down towards Tokyo.

…

Within a dark hospital room, a brown haired woman was restlessly sleeping upon the bed. Awoken was she, by an unusual disturbance in the air. Her agitated eyes found the curtains flailing softly about from the wind blowing through the open window. She swung her legs over the bed side and walked with a nervously sluggish pace as she rubbed her eyes and approached the ajar aperture.

She shut the window and locked it, then gasped and fell to the ground when looking to her right. For in the darkness, was a silhouette of a horned, white eyed man, standing in the corner. Panting with fear, she scrambled to her bed where the call button could be found. As she grabbed the device to activate it, a strong hand grabbed her wrist and pried it from her grip. She went to scream but the palm of the opposite hand cupped her mouth.

The dark face came next to her trembling eyes, and said with stern sincereness, "I'm not here to hurt you."

She quivered with with doubt, but nodded in compliance, only because she was more afraid if she attempted to call for help. She was slowly released, in which she asked, "What..do you want?"

"I hear you had an unwanted guest at your house this morning, miss Hana." returned the masculine voice.

She gaped for a moment, "How do you know about that? Who are you?"

"Someone who can help you."

Hanna arose, "Wait a moment, I know you….' said she with an overwhelmed expression, 'You're that man bat from Gotham! What do you want from me?"

Batman returned gravely, "I want to know why the Joker would have and interest in your two children, Yuki and Ame."

She sat on the bed and crossed her arms, "Why should I tell you? You're just another criminal who fails to keep other criminals off the street! I have nothing to say to you!" said she with defiance.

With his gaze affixed, the Dark Knight said callously, "It's a shame you feel that way miss Hana,' then walking away, 'I was also your last hope of seeing your kids again."

As he made it to the window, he heard her coming from behind, "Wait…wait. Can you really bring me my son and daughter back safely?"

The detective turned, "First off, I need to know what I'm up against, that's why I need to know what interest the Joker would have with them."

Hana held her hands close to her chest and stared at the ground, as if she was about to betray a hidden commitment. Finally she said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you…."

"Try me." returned the Caped Crusader.

With sifting eyes, Hana said, "They're not completely human.' Batman adjusted his posture to show his intrigue as Hana went on, "Their father was…well…a wolf…."

Silently, Batman heard Oracle say on his radio, "Someone's had an active social life."

Ignoring her, the dark being implored the fretting mother to continue, "What do you mean?"

"Well should I say, he had a special gift. He carried the last bloodline of the Honshu wolf in his veins, as a result he could take the forms of both man and beast."

"And has inherently passed on this ability to his offspring." Batman concluded for her.

She nodded as her questioner then asked, "Where is their father now?"

With glossing eyes, Hana said with a tremble, "He died shortly after my youngest was born. He didn't come home one day so I went out searching for him, and found a wolf dead in the gutter with animal control stuffing him into a bag before driving off with his body." she then placed a hand on her face out of the unwanted soul shattering memory.

"Tell me more about your encounter with the Joker." said Batman, to change the subject.

"What else is there to say? My daughter came home, my son was there, we were going to have lunch, then this van pulled up. This clown got out and began to tell jokes, then he brought a cake in, with a woman inside. I told them to leave then he sprayed something in my face and I couldn't stop laughing, to the point to where it hurt. When I awoke, they were gone, but the clown left me this."

She then showed him the Poker card. Batman eyed it then asked, "What did the police do?"

She paused a moment with a look of discomfort, "They asked me for my statement and I told them everything. Then they asked my neighbors, and apparently one stopped by to say hello and found me giggling on the ground with the cake and spray paint around the house. The reasons they had brought me here, was because I had slightly herniated due to my laughing, plus they think I'm too unstable to be a mother, and on top of that, they think I had something to do with it!"

"Don't worry miss Hana,' returned the bat, 'I am putting an end to this."

She was stilled by his reassurance for but a moment, then said with minuscule self temerity, "I know I shouldn't worry, after all, Yuki is very smart and resourceful and Ame can look after himself. They know how to handle themselves…"

The Dark Knight then destroyed her attempts to ease her worries by stating, "They don't know the Joker."

Hana held back tears, and said, "I tried so hard to keep them safe…!"

She then bowed her head as the liquid dots rushed down her cheeks and began huffing in despair. She trembled while looking at the Joker card, that mocked her so cynically. Suddenly Batman's hand came into her view holding the ID badge of her passed on lover. She took it with astonishment.

"It will be alright Miss Hana, You've done a fine job raising them. I'll bring them back safely, you have my promise." Returned the Caped Crusader.

Hana held the badge close to her collar and shut her eyes, "Thank you!' She gave out, 'Thank you so…" When she opened her eyes to look her hero in the face, he was gone.

…

On the rooftops of the highly illuminated city, the caped athlete was running and vaulting over various obstacles that could normally be found on the crownings of buildings. As he made his way, Oracle asked, "Do you really believe her story?"

Batman returned, "It does sound strange, however, that is something Joker's attracted to."

"Aren't wolves in Japan extinct?" returned Barbara with an air that detects flaws in testimony.

"The last known Honshu wolf died in 1905,' said the Dark Knight, 'however, there is a belief within the Japanese culture that the wolves took upon themselves human form so they could survive."

"You think that's the case with this family?"

"Species have been known to evolve in order to avoid extinction, it's called anti-predator adaptation."

"I still don't get why anyone would want two kids, even if they are wolves."

"If there is a supposed extinct species discovered, and they both happened to be male and female, they would sell for an extraordinary high price."

"You think Joker's going to sell them?"

"I think it's more complicated than that."

Our vigilante then made an ariel stunt, by diving off a building then glided between skyscrapers. This mode of transport continued until he finally came to the alley where the van was parked.

Landing next to it, he switched on his 'detective' vision and began scanning the area. His cowl picked up a biological substance a few yards away. He went up to it and analyzed it before it tested positive for human blood. Then noticing a small rope that was severed and laying next to it, he retrieved the frayed cord and did likewise.

"Maybe she wasn't lying after all." said Oracle.

"I see it too,' said Batman, 'the Scanner is picking up wolf hairs in the threads. It seems one of the kids may have attacked someone."

"I did a DNA test on the blood splatter, it belongs to one of Joker's henchmen."

"Looks like I've found the right place." Said the Knight gazing up at the building


	8. The Fearful Divided

**Chapter 6**

**The Fearful Divided**

Down the hallway came a group of four men, each finely dressed and suspiciously eyeing each other. Tensions were high, as they were led through the door, which put them in a dark studio room with Gotham's most dangerous and psychotic crime lords sitting on a few sofa's.

As the men entered they could not help but notice Two-Face sitting with his legs crossed by the entrance, staring at them while flipping his coin repeatedly. While penguin was a little bit more cordial, and approached them to shake their hands.

Upon doing so, he said, "Gentlemen, salutations to you all, I am Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, your liaison to Gotham. But you may refer to me as 'The Penguin.'

Then motioning to the deformed schizophrenic, "And former district attorney, Harvey Dent."

"And your role in this Mr. Dent?" asked one of the men of him.

"Two Face!" he snarled.

"Forgive him,' apologized Penguin, 'our dual persona'd friend is also an expert in law. Naturally he has studied your oriental legislations and will be able to council you should our activity attract any unwanted attention."

"And what of them?" asked another of Harley Quinn sitting in the lap of the Joker.

Joker replied through his perplexing smile, "Why the comic relief, of course….!"

"Now that formalities are out of the way,' said Penguin, 'If you will each take your seats."

Each of the men took a place in a lounge chair, and watched Penguin stand in front while lighting a cigar. After a few puffs, he said, "Now onto business, you all know that we were brought here by a very influential associate of yours. But the question is, why has he had 'you' brought here?"

The suits began to look around nervously, suspecting a trap. Penguin went on, "Though he is not here to greet you personally, he has entrusted us with the true nature of his designs."

He then clapped his flippers which brought the lights on. Behind the midget was a large cube, covered with a sheet of velvet. Each of the strangers tilted a head to show their intrigue. Penguin then pulled the sheet off, revealing a cage with Yuki and Ame inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked one with subtle disgust, "I thought we were bidding on a new weapon Giro was developing."

"The answer lies before you." returned Cobblepot to quell the heated emotions.

"You must be joking!" said one of the men as he stood up to leave.

He was then answered by a gun held under his jaw with Joker gripping it. "Let me tell the jokes around here.' said he with an uprising scold, 'If you just sit down, and allow me to demonstrate, then I won't decorate the interior with your brains!"

The man did so as Joker thankfully holstered his weapon then approached the entrapped teens. Addressing the two siblings, he supplicated them, "Oh will you please show the nice men your trick, hmmm?"

They stayed silent, in which Joker implored more earnestly, "Do it for your Uncle-J…please….!"

Yuki then whispered to her brother, "Don't show them anything…"

The spectators sifted in their seats with impatience, one even called out, "You insult our honor by wasting our time!"

In response, penguin took matters into his own hands by hitting the bars of the cage with his umbrella, to antagonize the children. They still would not comply, therefore the bayonet shot forth again as the little crook went to jab them. "We demand you show them!"

They scurried away from the point, but Joker went to whichever side they would retreat to with an electrical baton and began sending currents throughout the metal. The men would not suffer themselves to witness this type of abuse and began protesting until another voice of an innocent yet sinister composure caught the attention of all.

"Gentlemen, perhaps I can be of some assistance!"

They set their eyes on a shorter, slender man with a concise trim of red hair, wearing a white lab coat, who snuck in from the back. Two face put his head on his hand and said to himself in annoyance, "This crack pot…"

"And who are you!?" asked one of the suits.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Dr. Jonathan Crane!' said he with pride, 'And I myself have a tool that I could introduce to the black market."

"I am not staying here another moment, unless you provide results." said one of the men, with the others finding themselves in agreement.

"Oh don't worry,' said Crane, withdrawing a syringe, 'you have nothing to 'fear.'"

The doctor then reached through the bars and grabbed Ame by the collar and pulled him in close. Yuki came to assist her brother in freeing him from the grasp of this stranger, before the needle went into his arm and the solution was injected into his veins.

Crane let go of the lad as he stumbled forth and grasped his temples while falling to his knees. He shook his head from side to side, while his concerned sister tried to aid him in whichever way she could.

"Ame, are you ok?" she asked of him with worry.

The boy, stared at the ground, then up at Yuki. His eyes went wide as perspiration secreted down his face while he trembled exceedingly. She attempted to help him up, but he threw his arm from her and scrambled backwards in utmost terror. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" he bellowed.

"Ame! What's wrong with you?" returned Yuki.

Turning to the observers, Dr. Crane then said, "Let's see how he reacts to his fears!"

"Dr. Crane!' said one of the men, 'what in the hell did you do to him?"

"The proper question,' corrected the doctor, 'is what he is going to do about it."

All the men looked at Ame who stared at Yuki with intense rage, then began to change. They sat up right as the boy transformed into the legendary Honshu and lunged for the being in front of him, as though he did not recognize her.

"Ame No!" she pled as he pounced on her to bite out her throat. She pushed him up and then, in defense of her own life, matched his beast with her own. Soon the cage was filled with two quarreling wolves, lashing and snarling at each other.

The men's interest peaked, "How is this possible?" asked one.

Penguin then turned to them, "That does not matter, what does matter is that this ability can be passed on to others."

The suits then gawked at each other, "We're listening." said one.

"What my little friend is saying,' said Joker, 'is, just imagine your goons being able to get freaky when they wanted. Think of it, an army of furries, if you're into that sort of thing!" he chuckled.

"Think of it this way,' came in Two face, 'If you ever have a problem that needs to be taken care of, you can have one of your men tear his throat out and switch back, making it look like an animal attack. With none being the wiser."

"Just think,' said Crane with sinister motivation, 'how you can control this city with a mob of wolf men!"

They seemed to nod in agreement, until the fight amongst the siblings was leaning too far to one of them being killed. Looking back, Joker then motioned to his mistress, "Ok Harley, playtimes over you know what to do!"

She arose and pulled out her tranquilizer, and shot Ame with it. Soon he fell to the ground as the anesthetic ceased his charade. Yuki sat and panted in pain and exhaustion as Harley then twirled the gun and blew the top of the barrel like a western gunslinger and winked at Joker.

After a moment's silence, a man asked, "Can you really give this ability to someone else?"

At this point Crane walked down, "Rest assured gentlemen that I, and another associate from Gotham are the best minds to be put to the task."

"How do you plan to do this?"

"All we really need is their blood, and a few men you could spare for experiments." said Crane while his voice had an obvious display of an alternate option in his voice.

"What are your other ideas?"

"Well,' started Crane who looked back at Yuki then back at the other men, 'these creatures can also be bred. All we would need to do is to extract the appropriate DNA samples from both the boy and the girl and…"

"You Disgust Me!' said one in severe disapproval as he made his way to the door, 'Tell Giro that I have no interest in this investment."

Two-face then blocked the door and held his gun to the man. "We just can't let you leave, not with what you know."

"What then, you're going to kill me?"

"If you're not going to join in, then you're a loose end." said Dent who then flipped his coin, caught it and peered into his palm, then glared up at the man. "Fortune smiles,' said he, 'We won't kill you…." He then nodded to Crane who made his way over.

"What makes you think I won't go to the police?" said the man.

"We'll just deal with you another way." said Two face who retreated fully from the man's presence, leaving him in the hospitality of Dr. Crane. Everyone watched anxiously at what was to happen next.

"You think you intimidate me, you pathetic little man!?' said the mobster with a laugh, 'I could have you broken five different ways in a heartbeat. What can you do to keep me silent?" he finished condescendingly."

Crane then pulled out a small respirator and strapped it over his face, then said, "Break your mind…" he then shot forth his palm as a white gas steamed from his sleeve. The man coughed and waived the at the vapors before they dissipated. He then looked around and started to scream and slap his body in assorted areas, yelling, "THEY'RE ALL OVER ME, GET THEM OFF!"

Crane then had the screaming lunatic carried off while still going off in a deranged fashion. "Unfortunately' said the evil doctor with carelessness, 'the only witness to our scheme is a psychotic man who suffers from illusions. Such a shame…"

"So…' said Joker clapping his hands together while addressing the remaining three, 'Are you going to play along, or do we have to go home and take the ball with us?"

Timidly each man nodded their heads, one asked, "How much does Giro want?"

"Let me be your advocate on that." said Penguin as he began to show them the way out.

As the men departed, Joker then looked at Two face, "Well, time to put the doggies back into their kennel." He then whistled, in which the door in the back opened, as Croc walked in followed by three others. Yuki snarled at the man beast who returned the gesture before entering the cage. At this point Dent informed, "The boy goes to the cryogenics lab, the girl stays here."

Nodding, Croc allowed two of the men to take the sleeping Ame while he snatched up the she wolf in his claws. As the siblings were being divided Yuki scrambled and cried out in ultimate protest to not be separated from her brother.

She screamed and cried as the scaly giant only huffed as he carried her down to the warehouse. "I've eaten things that don't complain as much as you!" he mocked.

Eventually he threw her in the first cage that held her, then turned to the henchmen that followed him in and ordered, "Stand guard."

Croc then departed leaving Yuki bemoaning the fact that her family was pulled apart by these horrible beings. The henchmen began to grow tired of her wails and hit the cage, "Yeah go ahead and cry kid!"

She then stopped and looked up and dropped her mouth, the henchmen noticed her submissiveness and jested, "Oh what?! You think your screams are gonna save you?" said he, "You think some super saiyon or dumb rubber monster is gonna come to your rescue?"

Pointing past him, Yuki stammered, "Or a bat monster!"

He looked behind his shoulder to see a winged figure glide towards him and kick him into the cage with enough force to push it off at an angle which caused Yuki to shriek.

The goon was then flipped over on his back and then pounded into the face by a burly, gloved fist, rendering him unconscious.

Yuki trembled at the site of a dark, caped figure who was haunched over the knocked out henchmen. He then looked up at her with focused eyes, then arose and walked to the cage. He withdrew a type of glue gun from his belt and sprayed a blue, fizzing gel on the padlock that held the cage shut.

"Stand back." said he with morbid sternness.

Yuki slowly put herself as far away from the door as she could, the caped figure then walked back a few paces and said, "Brace yourself."

She clasped her hands over her ears and turned her head. The masked vigilante then pressed down on a button on his tool, which caused the gel to explode. The door blasted open and the entrapment lifted and fell from the concussive detonation.

He then slowly opened the door to approach the girl, then another door opened as half a dozen men rushed in when hearing the explosion.

The caped man turned and said to Yuki, "Stay here, I'll handle this."

**(Stay tuned, next chapter is gonna be sweet!)**


	9. The Insidious Getaway

**Chapter 7**

**The Insidious Getaway**

"You gotta be freakin' kidding me!' yelled one of the goons with irate disbelief, 'The Bat found us here!"

"How could he have known?!" yelled one.

"Who the hell cares, just kill him!" returned another.

With that said, the six men advanced upon the Dark Knight with futile aggression. Batman stood there motionless, while Yuki clung to the bars with sweating palms. Some of the attackers had brass knuckles and knives that they had kept in their pockets, while others found chains and steel poles that were kept around the warehouse, to use as impact weapons.

Yuki felt her stomach curl as the first man in line, swung a pipe for the vigilante's head. Batman quickly ducked under it, slugged the man in the gut, then followed through with an upper cut then grabbed his lapel and delivered a head butt, then seized the pipe as the henchmen fell.

Quickly from behind, another goon came in with a wild swing, but was stopped by Batman's arm as he spun in and belted the man across the face with the pipe, causing him to stumble back and fall.

From the right flank, came down a chain, in which the Dark Knight barred the attack with the steel pole. It wrapped around the shaft, in which Batman twisted it 360 degrees, kicked the the man in the stomach, getting him to relinquish his grip, then swung the chain-pipe around, striking three others in the face, then dodged an attack from another goon, snuck behind him (back to back) wrapped the chain around the man's throat and threw him over his shoulder and into the ground, taking him out of the fight.

The remaining five surrounded him and closed in. To avoid annihilation, Batman lashed two in the eyes with his cape, then threw a set of bat-arangs with pristine accuracy at the heads of the others, then jumped over one, grabbed his shoulders, kicked out a leg, then slammed his head into the ground, knocking him out.

The henchmen next to our vigilante, recovered, and began to swing and jab wildly with his knife. The bat did his best to dodge and out maneuver the edges but was caught up and received a few slits in his suit. When the knife-man came in for a cross swing, Batman caught the arm lengthwise and delivered a powerful thrust kick into his side, cracking the ribs. He let out a terrible gasp before having his arm twisted in such a way that flipped him over on his back, then with a strike with the forearm, inverted the man's elbow.

He let out a dreadful cry of agony in which the spectator, Yuki, covered her mouth and went pale. The three others charged at the knight simultaneously, Batman caught the one in the lead by the neck and threw him behind him, sending him sprawling into Yuki's cage. He then rushed to meet the other two, grabbed their faces and drove them straight down.

The henchmen closest to Yuki, arose, turned, and made another attempt for the bat. Our formidable vigilante, faced him, ducked under a haymaker, and threw the goon back into the cage. He then advanced towards him, threw two fists into the gut, then grabbed his face and then pounded his skull into the bars.

He sank to his rear while grasping his head, with Yuki looking upon him with bewilderment. The other two got to their feet, one grabbed the pipe while the other rushed in and grabbed Batman around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides and turning him around, so that his partner could hit him freely with the steel pole.

The knight lifted up his feet and pushed his assailant back with both heels, causing him to stumble and fall. Then threw his head back into his holder's nose, stomped on the foot, then twisted his hand into a wrist lock, forcing him to bend over, turned around and threw his knee up into the henchmen's face, breaking the nasal cavity.

The goon with the pole came back but was answered by the crusader's fist, then was popped in the eye by the end of his own weapon before it was taken from him. Batman then hit the goon in the sciatic nerve above his knee and tripped him up with the pipe. The man fell on his back, then saw the dark knight part his feet before driving the steel into his groin. The henchmen recoiled horribly, turned to his side while curled in a ball, and vomited.

Yuki only stood there and gazed upon the caped fighter, who stood triumphant amongst a throng of broken and beaten men, who moaned and writhed in agony upon the ground. He then strongly opened the door to the cage and approached her. She fell back and scurried away and threatened, "Don't come near me, I'm warning you!"

Batman returned, "It's okay Yuki, your safe now."

"How do you know my name?"

"It's a long story, but we need to go, now…!" he became more forceful in his tone.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" said the fearful girl.

"Listen, I know you're afraid, but I need you to trust me, your mother is waiting for you."

Eventually Yuki stood, and complied, it was then when Batman realized he was a child short, "Where's your brother?"

"I don't know…' she said, 'one of the men said something about taking him to a cryogenics lab."

"Do you know who he was?"

"I think they called him Two-face."

As they walked out of the cage and into the open towards the exit, Batman asked, "Do you know who else Two-face was working with?"

"Ummm, Joker…Penguin…and…um' she thought as they made it to the door, 'Some monster, like a big green, ugly…."

As the door opened, a roar followed by a green hand shot through the frame and grabbed the Dark Knight by the throat and lifted him up as Croc walked in. "I thought I could smell a rodent!" he bellowed.

"Yuki run!" Batman instructed.

Croc threw the caped crusader into the ground as Yuki fled the scene. Croc went after her, but found his legs tied up by one of the vigilante's bat-lassos. He fell with a thud, then cut the cable with a claw and turned his rage on the dark knight. As the bat rushed to jump and land on Croc, he was knocked off to the side and into a crate by his scaly hand.

The alligator man got to his feet and picked the bat up and pinned him into the crate, "Y'know wolves have no place in Japan, and neither do bats!"

As Croc was about to bite his face out, he staggered and found a brown wolf biting and pulling at his heel. With a snarl, he turned and kicked her like a football. She whimpered and hit the ground with a yelp. Batman was then able to get a foot up and belt the monster under the jaw. He let go and shook his head, then grabbed the knight and laid him into the concrete and went for the kill.

Batman caught the face of Croc and began pushing back, as his jaws snapped repeatedly while streams of saliva oozed from his teeth. Just then, Yuki jumped on the beast's back and latched onto the flab of skin at the back of his neck and began to pull. Croc arched his head back and yelled, in which Batman withdrew a bat-arang and stuck it vertically in Croc's mouth. With a point sticking into the tongue and roof of the mouth, the enraged giant shook the wolf off before getting kicked back in the chest by the knight.

Batman kipped up and began running for the door, but noticed in the pandemonium, Yuki was running up the stairs to the rafters. "Yuki wait!" he cried out, but she did not heed.

At this point, Croc got the object out of his mouth and threw it at it's owner, who stepped off to the side and evaded it. He then shot his grapple up to the rafter that Yuki ran along and pulled himself up before the beast could get to him.

Croc then grabbed a radio found on one of the henchmen and switched it on and said, "Get your men down here, we got a rodent infestation!"

Batman got himself over the railing and tried to keep up with Yuki, but she was much faster on all fours. At the end of the pathway was a door, when the she wolf got to it, it opened as a man with an automatic rifle in his hands stood in the frame.

Yuki stopped dead in her tracks, in which the thug exacerbated with wide eyes, "Oh crap how'd she get out!?"

From behind the wolf, emerged the winged embodiment of what every criminal in Gotham fears. Landing between him and the girl, the goon took aim at the knight, who knocked it upwards before it discharged a few rounds. Batman then threw his knee into his stomach, then took hold of the back of his belt and flipped him over the railing. The thug fell about five meters and landed at Croc's feet.

Growling, the beast said to him as he got up, "You were supposed to kill him!"

"uggghhhh….. sorry…." he pled.

Croc then knocked him off to the side with total disapproval, he then radio'd, "They're heading to the roof, I'll see if I can cut them off!"

Meanwhile, the dark knight made his way up the stairs, failing to keep up with Yuki. Eventually the wolf girl made it to the door at the top and realized that her only hope in opening it, was with her opposable thumbs. Therefore she transitioned back into her sapient form and began jostling the nob, but to her dismay, it was locked.

"Fortunately for you,' came the deep voice of Batman, she then turned to see him, who then finished, 'I have the key to every door."

The caped being then sprayed the same gel on the knob and blew the components to pieces. Yuki went to go in, but the hand of her dark hero fell upon her shoulder. She looked up at him who said, "Let me go in first."

"Wait,' said Yuki, who then partially changed over, and began to smell the air, and twitch the ears, 'there are more of them…"

"….Coming up the elevator." Batman finished.

She nodded as they looked at the shaft doors, the knight then informed, "Each man is armed, we can't say here."

"How do you know that?" asked Yuki who then noticed that Batman was already heading to the next flight of stairs. As the girl followed after him she asked, "Wait, who are you anyway?"

Without looking back, the caped figure said, "Someone with a promise to keep."

She paused a moment, then continued her pace. Suddenly she heard the men making their way to the stairs. In a panic she went back to all fours and rushed passed the caped crusader who called out, "Yuki, Wait!"

But the only answer was the resonating echo of his own voice. Speaking of echoes, the bat heard the cluttering of rubber soles to concrete coming up the stair way. He withdrew his explosive gel as he made his way up.

He sprayed a streak on a stair ledge and pressed, 'Prox. Det.' on his tool. Then looking up, could see Yuki's shadows quickly ascending up the flight, therefore he used his grapple to catch up with her. As Batman pulled himself up, a sudden bellow of thunder shook the air, followed by some men screaming and swearing.

Yuki kept dashing up the flight of stairs at an unreasonable pace, she noticed that the latest door she passed was labeled 'floor 28' and wondered to herself how tall the building was.

Suddenly, at floor 30, the door slammed open, and there stood a most familiar, green, giant, scaly monster. "Where do ya think your going?!" he snarled.

She jumped out of the way of his grasp and doubled her efforts to make it to the roof. She looked behind and panicked as Croc was barreling up after her like a guerrilla. At one of the landings, which was by a window, the alligator man pounced on her and held her down.

"I don't care if they need you alive,' he growled, 'I'll enjoy feasting on your bones!"

Yuki let out a howling scream as his sharp teeth came down for her face. At this time Batman came over the railing, got on Croc's back and pulled back his forehead. He shook and twitched violently like a bucking bronco. Thrice he slammed his back into the wall, with Batman still holding on. Seeing herself free, Yuki ran away again.

Croc bent over, grabbed the dark knight, and slammed him into the glass, making it crack. The beast made a straight punch for the head, but Batman ducked as his fist broke through the window. Croc quickly chambered up his knee and belted the knight in the chest with a straight kick, sending him through the casing. The green monster then peered over the ledge and could not see his enemy. Then with a shrug, went after the wolf girl.

The exit to the roof opened swiftly as Yuki (now in human form) made her way and could see almost all of Tokyo. She then realized the colossal mistake she had made, when seeing that she had reached a dead end.

"No where to run to now!" came Croc's raspy voice.

She turned and saw his massive body come through the door, who then shut it then twisted and contorted the knob, so that it may not opened again without force. Yuki then slowly haunched over, and allowed herself to change yet again. Then with a straight tale and bristling fur, she growled and challenged him.

"Go ahead,' he mocked, 'give me your best shot!"

The she-wolf then rushed for him, lunged, and went for the throat. With lightning fast reflexes, Croc took a swipe at her, knocking her out of the air and to the side. She yelped and rolled before coming to a stop. She held herself up and felt a terrible pain that left her favoring a paw.

On the ground she saw a smear of red that sprayed itself from her shoulder. Looking down at it, found her own flesh and fur gashed open. Then setting her eyes on the man beast, found his claws dripping with scarlet. Croc then began walking to her, while licking one of his fingers.

"Hmmm, quite tasty…" he said.

Yuki then switched over to her humanoid self, so that she may clutch the wound and compress the bleeding. She scurried away from the monster until she hit the ledge of the building. Peering down she could see the cars and lights that looked like a collection of steel beetles and docile lightning bugs from that height.

Croc raised his claws again for another swipe, before Batman had glided in and hit him from behind. The scaly giant flipped over the ledge and began to plummet to the earth below. The dark knight then grabbed his hook shot and propelled it towards the periled individual, who was caught by the ankle. Croc smashed into the window adjacent to him, and was knocked out.

His weight almost pulled Batman over, but he dug in his heels and managed to secure the line before checking on Yuki.

She sat there with a grimace over her injury. Batman kneeled by her and said, "Let me see it."

She slid her reddened fingers away, in which the dark knight withdrew a roll of gauze and began binding up the laceration. When finished Yuki asked, "How do we get out of here? There's no way out!"

"There's always a way." returned the caped crusader, who began typing in a series of buttons on his forearm. Yuki watched with curiosity, wondering what he was doing. Unbeknownst to her, within the C-5, a set of headlights came on followed by the sound of a V-12 engine coming to life.

Looking down at the tethered line that held Croc's dangling body, she questioned, "Why didn't you let him fall?"

"That's not how I do things." said he.

"He tried to kill me, he tried to kill you!" she protested.

"Croc's just an animal, who belongs in a cage, not a morgue."

"An animal like me…" said the girl with a heavy frown.

"Only if you choose to be." said the knight.

Just then, the access door the roof began to pound. The gunmen were trying to break it down from the other side. Yuki stood up quickly in terror, as her protector simply arose with casualness.

Batman felt Yuki bury her head into his cape as the door broke open and the armed men came through.

"Stay calm." said the knight.

Yuki grasped the hems of his mantle and trembled as the goons raised their guns on them. One of the men then coaxed, "Ok Batman, hand the girl over nice and easy, and maybe we won't blow your head off…"

Yuki looked up at the vigilante who seemed unfazed, she only thought to herself, "_Batman? Really…?_"

Just then Yuki heard a slight bleeping noise coming from his gauntlet. In response, the dark knight began to back her up to the ledge. Yuki pushed back as her heels began kicking grout over the side, "What are you doing?" she whispered with alarm.

"Hang on…" returned the bat calmly.

"Hang on…what!?"

Suddenly, Batman threw a small pellet to the ground causing a thick cloud of smoke to engulf the line of fire. He quickly grabbed Yuki and dove off the the building with a barrage of bullets zipping through the smoke screen.

Yuki closed her eyes and screamed uncontrollably as she felt them free fall story after story within only a few seconds. Batman, however, impassively withdrew his grapple and shot a line to a nearby building before impact. Coming to a stop, he then gently lowered them to the sidewalk, safe and sound.

"You can let go now…" said Batman to the teen who was still holding on to him for dear life. She slowly released her grip while letting out little huffs of adrenaline, then with shaking legs, walked into the street.

To her right, she was blinded by two bright lights that roared up to her. With a shriek she braced herself with her hands. When nothing happened, she opened and eye and saw the the monstrous bat-mobile rumbling from the idle in front of her.

The canopy opened as Batman vaulted into the driver's seat and said sharply, "Get in!"

Yuki, still recovering, weakly clambered over and fell into the back seat. As she flopped inside an alert tone began chiming in from the center console. She got to her knees and pressed herself forward between the driver and passenger seat and looked out the windshield. The intersection in front of them was suddenly blocked off by two black cars.

Batman switched on the rear camera feed and found likewise with the intersection behind the bat-mobile. He turned his head to Yuki and said, "You may want to sit back."

Before the girl could speak, the dark knight hit the accelerator in which the vehicle lurched forward with no forgiveness, sending her flying back into the seat. The tires squealed and sent out a white cloud as the demonic vehicle barreled forward.

Yuki covered her eyes and braced as the bat-mobile rammed into the sedans up front, pushing them off to the side. The other vehicles behind peeled out and started the pursuit.

Yuki felt her body flatten against the backrest as her ride accelerated, she looked out the window and could see the city lights scream by with ungodly velocity. Up ahead, was a traffic jam in which Batman simply steered off into the opposite lane of traffic. Yuki saw nothing but dodging headlights and swerving metal before he took a hard right and drifted into an alley.

She was thrown hard off into the side but managed to recover. The vehicles chasing them were now numbered in four, the other two having smashed fenders.

"Doesn't this thing shoot guns or something?" asked Yuki.

Batman then hit a switch which dropped a series of caltrops behind the afterburner. One car swerved, while the other had all four tires punctured, grinding the vehicle to a halt. The two that followed were able to steer clear and continue the chase.

The car in the lead pulled up close to the Bat-mobile as the alley took them into another street. Peering into his camera, the crusader was able to see that he was about to be forced into a pit maneuver. The front fender hit the rear wheels and the bat-mobile was sent spinning sideways.

Batman quickly turned his steering column and flipped the vehicle around then stuck it in reverse. Face to face the two vehicles proceeded down the road until the dark knight was able to spin it around. Then hit the brakes, getting his car next to the other, flicked a different switch which shot out two spikes from his hub caps, and shredded the rubbers on his enemy's sedan.

The car sunk and pulled off to one side and failed to keep up as the other two blew past it. Seeing the remaining duo, Yuki said, "Any other ideas?"

Batman then hit a sequence of buttons, in which the screen on the center console said 'auto drive-on.' The winged driver then said calmly, "Stay here, I'll be back."

He then pulled up on a lever, in which he was shot out of the drivers seat and into the air, leaving Yuki behind who called out, "Where could you possibly be going?!"

Batman shot his cape out and glided overhead. Then dove straight down and smashed into the hood of the car on his right. The driver hit the brakes then pulled out his gun and started firing through the windshield. The dark knight then jumped off and flipped over the roof then shot his grapple to the other sedan and pulled himself over to it.

The driver of the first car was confused until seeing a streak of blue gel fizzing on the hood and over the windshield. Suddenly the gel exploded, blasting out the glass and rupturing multiple engine components. Thus ending the driving days of this automobile.

The final car was found with it's driver and passenger looking at each other with one saying to the other, "Where'd he go?"

Suddenly a fist broke through the driver side window and pulled the man out with a scream. Stunned at first, the passenger then tried to take control of the wheel but crashed into a building.

After this episode, Yuki saw the canopy of the Bat-mobile re-open as her dark defender sloped back into the seat. At this point the sound of sirens filled the air, as the police were hot on their heels. Batman got out of the city limits and headed for the country with flashes of red still flickering behind him.

"You're not going to fight the police are you?" asked Yuki with some worry.

Batman did not respond, he only hit the thruster in which the Bat-mobile shot forth with ungovernable fury. The high way road stretched on for a few kilometers, then Batman pulled off to the left and turned the running lights off. Leaving the unsuspecting officers to unknowingly zip past the black vehicle in the night.

He then pressed another button which brought a screen down over the windshield and displayed their surroundings in infrared night vision. The Bat-moblile was then steered off into the field and went a few leagues further, before approaching a C-5. The nose and ramp presented itself so that the car could drive up and in.

The engine was shut off, the awing opened up and the dark knight got out. As Yuki proceeded to do the same, she then noticed where the seat belts were located. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but alas, she was safe with the Batman.


	10. The Girl Who Knew Too Much

**Chapter 8**

**The girl who knew too much**

Yuki took a moment to look around and see the technological wonders and monstrosities that were so neatly arranged to Batman's liking, when he said, "This may sting."

She nodded with queasy anticipation as Batman who had taken off his cape, and had Yuki sitting in a chair, with him cleaning her wound with iodine and a sceptic pad. Her skin bristled when he made contact as he began sponging out the laceration and disinfecting it. When finished, she closed her eyes and looked away as the Knight withdrew thread and needle and began to stitch the fleshy tear back together.

"Ow!" she complained.

While Batman, who had little patience for murmuring of any sort, and for people who bring upon them their own circumstances, said "You shouldn't have tried to take Croc on, you could have gotten killed."

"I didn't have a choice, he had me trapped on the roof!" she protested.

"If you had listened to me, you wouldn't have been there."

"Hey! If it wasn't for me, that green thing would have killed you!"

"I didn't need your help."

"And I didn't need yours!"

"That's not what I saw."

Yuki sighed and stared at the ground, arguing with him was useless. She finally asked in frustration, "Are you done yet?"

Batman tied off the thread and snipped the remains, allowing Yuki to see the pattern that bound her skin together.

The detective then sterilized his hands, as he arose he informed, "I wouldn't recommend changing anytime soon. Altering your form might cause the stitches to tear."

Yuki examined the dark knight and asked, "What about you?" Observing the rips and cuts in his suit.

"I'll deal with that later,' said he, then sitting at the computer, 'right now I need your help."

"Oh so now you your asking for my help?" sputtered Yuki with circumvention.

Batman shot such a displeased glare at her, that she found herself quite uncomfortable and more willing to comply, "What do you need?"

Batman then pulled up a series of profile shots of five different men, "Yuki, can you identify these men?"

She stared at them and began to go down the line, and identified Joker, Croc, Penguin and Two-face, then observed the last one, "I didn't see him…"

"Was there anyone else you saw?"

"Yeah, some doctor guy, he called himself….Joe Crone or something."

"Dr. Jonathan Crane?" corrected Batman.

"Yeah, how do you know him?"

"You don't want to know. Do you know what they wanted with you?"

"Yeah, they were talking about making wolf men or something…and breeding us."

"Was it only these men, or were there others?"

"There were others, I didn't know them, but one mentioned the name 'Giro.'"  
Batman turned and began typing in the name and cross referenced it with known associates of the Gotham criminal underworld, but none nothing came up. He then asked, "Can you describe the others?"

"Ummm, they were Japanese and they all wore black suits and that's all I knew.'

Batman's brow fringed, then began to cross reference another criminal underworld, in which one match was found. He then turned on the intercom and said, "Oracle are you seeing this?"

"Yeah,' returned another voice, 'I've got one match from the NPA and that's it, what do you think?"

"I think I know who hired Joker and the others and broke them out of Arkham and Black-gait."

"And that is?"

"The Yakuza."

Oracle gasped, "The Japanese mafia?"

"It's a long shot, but Giro seems to have ties with that organization."

"What would he want?"

"Yuki told me that he wanted to give her ability to others."

"But why hire Gotham's gangsters?"

"To keep himself off the radar by using them to do the dirty work. It all makes sense now, Joker would be the only one crazy enough to come out all this way and kidnap two children, and it would be too crazy to believe. Croc would be the only one who could contain the kids if they tried to fight back or escape."

"What about the others?"

This time Yuki threw in her voice, "I remember them saying something about a liaison and some legal advisor."

"That's where Penguin and Two-Face come in." said Oracle.

"We have another problem, Crane is over here too."

"What would he want?"

Yuki then informed, "He said that he and some other scientist were going to do the experiments."

"Oracle, can you get me a list of all the cryogenic labs in Tokyo?" asked Batman of his partner.

"Yeah, Hang on."

Yuki then asked, "How are you going to find Ame?"

Batman, without looking at her, said, "I know this other scientist, he would be more than qualified to create these wolf men, and I know exactly how I'm going to find him."  
"And that is?"

Just then a list of the requested facilities came up on the computer, in which Batman hit a few series of commands for the satellites to triangulate one with a specific feature. One was identified.

"This particular scientist,' said Batman, 'Can't survive anywhere else."

He then arose and put his cape back on, then said, "I'm going to get your brother, stay here."

Yuki then protested, "Wait, let me come with you, I can help."

"No, they're all looking for you, it's not safe for you to go out until I put a stop to this."

"Not alone you shouldn't." said Oracle.

"Not now Barbara." chided Batman.

He then fired up the Bat-mobile and opened the rear hatch of the C-5, then turned to Yuki and said, "Up in the cockpit is the crew quarters, there's a bed, food and water if you need it.' then warned, 'Don't touch anything down here, I'll be back."

Angered, the girl said, "What makes you think you can just lock me up in here? You're not my Dad!"

As he got into the driver's seat the dark knight returned, "No, and you should grateful that I'm not."

She then jumped back as a gust of heat shot from the after burner and the vehicle blew out of the aircraft. The tail gate then closed up and every machine in the cargo space shut down, leaving the teenager alone.

As Batman steered back towards Tokyo he radio'd in, "Oracle, send me the coordinates to that lab on my GPS, I'm heading there now."

"Sure thing,' said she, then after a pause requested, 'Bruce, do you really think you can handle this alone?"

"It's nothing I can't handle." He gritted.

"Bruce, you have six of Gotham's most dangerous crime lords and their gangs plus the Japanese mob on your hands, you need help."

"I can handle it Barb." he said with more defiance.

"Sir, I must agree with miss Gordon,' came in Alfred, 'You're in over you head, this is too much, even for you. I'm sending for both…'

The solo crusader cut him off, knowing who he was referring to, "No Alfred, he's needed in gotham, and he's needed in Bludhaven. I'll have those children safely with their mother and back in Gotham shortly." Without wanting to hear another word on the subject, he switched off his receiver.

Oracle sat in her wheel chair and cleaned off the lenses of her glasses then said, while still sharing a link with the butler, " I don't know, what do you think Alfred?"

"I think in some cases it is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission miss Gordon." said he, who stood in the dark and musty cave in front of the Bat-computer in a crisp tuxedo with his hands elegantly perched behind his back.

"Ok, I'll call Bludhaven." said Oracle.

Alfred then pressed a button on the computer which activated the intercom over all of Wayne manner, and said, "Master Drake, your presence is requested down here immediately."

Soon after, the darkness gave way to a slide of light as a young man of seventeen entered the Batcave.

While Oracle made a call with the monitor and was answered by a young yet enthusiastically dark male voice, in which she responded, "Dick, it's Barbara."

(I'm going to upload chapters monthly because I've got a bigger project that requires more of my time and it's my bread and butter. If your curious about it and like my writing, look up The Vermillion Harvest on my profile. If you don't know the series don't worry, it's a story of it's own, with every once of my writing ability put into it. Also, I make AMV's, youtube my channel, BetweenThePipes49)


	11. A Chilling Reception

**Chapter 9**

**A Chilling Reception**

_(For any Batman nerd reading this, yes I did repurpose a scene from the upcoming 'Arkham Knight' game. It was so cool, I had to put it in)_

Row by row, slat by slat did the ceiling tiles and lights pass by. It was in this montage that Ame's eyes were opening up to and witnessing. His skin began to present goose bumps as the gurney he was being rolled in on seemed to descend into a chasm that became colder with each step. He made an attempt to move but found his hands and ankles strapped down to the platform.

The air became so frigid that he found each exhalation of air to become steam before his nostrils. The henchmen then rolled him into a dark room with tiled floor and began to unstrap him, one observed, "Hey guys, he's waking up, we gotta move quick."

They began to carry him to another bed, but at this point, the boy was regaining his awareness and began to toss and turn.

As he was resisting, one of the goons said, "I swear if you scratch me again you little twerp your mommy will cry when she sees what I've done to you!"

The boy would not comply, another warned, "Guys we gotta get him under, that green freak isn't here to keep him under control if he gets all furry on us."

One of the thugs pulled out an empty syringe, and coaxed, "Look kid, we just need a little blood, hold still dammit!"

He tried to put the needle into the vein in his wrist, but Ame began kicking and growling as the change began to ensue. It was interrupted when a synthetic voice of deadened emotion instructed coldly, "Keep the boy still…!"

Ame stopped and digressed his appearance when confronted by a pair of round, red, glowing eyes that sat in suspended animation from the shadows. They began to move forward accompanied by heavy metallic thuds that sounded as foot steps.

The being then partially came into view, when a mechanical hand shot from the darkness and picked Ame up by the lapel and clasped something around his neck. Ame was then released and attempted to change over again and attack his enemies but was met with a severe electrical discharge from the collar, which caused too great an agony.

"A necessary precaution for someone like you." returned the dubbed tone, then said, "Give me your wrist and this will all be over momentarily."

Ame tucked his hands into his armpits, "I'm not doing anything for any of you!"

The man machine then grabbed him and put some kind of tool to his neck, which shot forth a needle and began to exsanguinate him from the jugular. Ame squirmed and whimpered until the small canister on the tool filled with a decent portion of his blood before being released.

"It is not wise to test my patience young man." returned the chilling voice.

Ame glared up at the unknown individual, then said, "That makes two of us. You're lucky I have this collar on, or that wouldn't be the only blood out of someones body!"

The glowing eyes stared at him unsettlingly before responding, "Threats do very little to intimidate a man who has already lost everything."

The figure then turned with the same heavy steps as before, and called back, "Put him in the holding cell, I may need to run tests on him later."

Powerless to overcome the brawn of the four henchmen, Ame was carried off against his will, leaving the cold stranger with the sample.

…

As Batman was en' route to the cryogenics lab, Oracle questioned, "Do you think the girl will be fine by herself?"

"If she does what I've said." returned the knight.

"I mean, all your equipment is there."

"Everything is on lock down with L.T.L counter measures."

"Does she know that?"

"She will if she tries anything."

Then changing the subject, Oracle inquired, "How can you be sure this is the exact cryo lab in Tokyo where they're keeping Ame?"

"The one I had you cross reference had one thing that stood out from the others."

"And that was?"

"The climate control can reach sub-zero temperatures in almost every room, and there is only one man from Gotham who would do his research in a place like that." returned that morbid intellect of the caped crusader.

Once the destination was reached, Batman got out and made sure he had parked in a discrete enough location so that his vehicle would not be discovered. Then entered discreetly, the desired building.

Within one of the break rooms, three men sat around drinking coffee. One of them then asked, "So how much are we getting paid for helping Joker kidnap that freak show?"

"I dunno man, but you better hope it's not in yen, that stuff is worthless back home." responded one.

"Y'know this still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I mean, why couldn't this Giro guy do it himself."

"Look Nancy Drew,' rebuked one, 'We just do what the clown says and take what he gives and hope it's not a bullet. Speaking of the little monster, ain't you supposed to be watching him?"

"He's locked up, what could happen?"

"Oh I dunno, the ice-cube finds out who left him alone and freezes your ass!" returned the other.

"Fine,' said he as he arose, 'y'know, I was thinking, another way to make money off those kids is to make a movie on em' or something."

"What are you talking about?"

"I dunno, like a love story maybe."

"You mean like a werewolf hooking up with a normal person?"

"Yeah…I mean it could sell right? We could get royalties and get rich that way."

"Not only are you weird, you're stupid!" growled one of the thugs, 'a story like that would never work!"

"Whatever, I'm leaving."

As he was going, one of his comrades teased, "Yeah go write your movie, maybe you should throw in a vampire while your at it to get a love triangle going….freak."

The man left, leaving the other two alone. One pulled out his flask and began to spike his own coffee, while the other seemed to want the spirit to haunt his own.

"Hey, hook me up with some of that!" be whined.

"Screw you, you can get some of that sake crap! This right here is my whiskey home brew, no way you're getting any."

They started to argue until the one who was supposed to have left came back with a look of shear terror on his face. "Guy's you're not gonna…!" he was then pulled away quickly with a yelp. The other two stood with hysterically curious expressions.

The door frame was then taken up by the Batman. With a gasp, one of the thugs picked up his chair and ran after the dark knight with it. Batman grabbed the legs, twisted the stool from the man's grasp, swept his feet out from underneath him and brought it straight down into throat. The man squirmed and showed no sign of getting up anytime soon.

The second made his run, but was picked up by the neck and pinned into the wall and raised up high. His legs kicked and dangled while he coughed.

"The boy…!' started Batman with subtle intensity, 'Where are you keeping him?"

"Up yours man! I ain't telling you nothing!" returned the criminal with defiance.

The interrogator then threw him over and slammed him onto the table, causing it to break. The man coughed then found Batman's boot pressing down into his jaw.

"That table isn't the only thing I can bust into pieces,' threatened the knight, 'one more time, the boy, WHERE IS HE!?"

Choking, the crook said, "We got him in another room on the sub level, just across from the main lab, where they store all the samples and stuff."

"You've been most helpful." Returned Gotham's protector nonchalantly.

"Go ahead and save him, once you let me go, I'll be back up."

Batman leaned over, "If you're lying, I'll break the other one."

His boot lifted up as the man wondered as to what the vigilante meant. Then suddenly found Batman's heel coming down on his ankle with a stomp and blew his joint sideways. He cried out in despair and agony while grasping his knee, as the unfeeling crime fighter left.

Down in the sub levels the labs seemed empty as Batman walked down the corridors looking for Ame. He switched on his detective vision and could see a small humanoid figure, curled into a ball in one of the rooms next door.

He slid the door open, and he took a moment to examine the scene. He found Ame in a cage who seemed to be sleeping, while various tubes and phials were on a counter nearby.

"Oracle,' radio'd the vigilante, 'I found the boy."

"Good,' she returned, 'How is he?"

"They seemed to have him sedated, the cold may also have him in a type of hibernated state. But that's not all I've found. They've already extracted his DNA, I can only assume they've started running tests on the samples."

"You really think this Giro is crazy enough to weaponize his abilities?"

"He was already crazy enough to have them kidnapped." returned the knight.

"If he succeeds, Tokyo is going to need all the help they can get."

"I think it will be Giro who will need my help in the end."

"What do you mean?"

"Whoever he is, he has no idea who he hired to help him. Think about it Barbara, how long do you think Two-face, Penguin and Joker will work together in harmony? There's going to be a full out war if we're not careful."

"Maybe these wolf men they're working on may not be the worst thing after all."

"Probably not."

Batman switched off his receiver, then took his explosive gel to destroy the samples. As he was about to do so, a streak of blue and white hit the tool from his hand. He turned to see the one responsible, a bald man with icy blue skin wearing red goggles, while wearing a type of exo suit with a large dome around the head stood there with a large cryo gun pointed at him.

"I'm surprised you got caught up in all of this Victor." addressed the knight.

With a mono toned, dubbed voice, the ice man responded, "I am not surprised to see you however, for your obsession with Gotham's criminals is quite unrelenting."

"I didn't know you had an interest in the honchu. Tell me, why work for the Yakuza?"

"Japan has one of the best medical expertise in the world.' Victor shot back, 'The oriental gang lord offered to fund the research to cure Nora's disease, so long as I gave him my undivided attention to this work."

Batman tried to reason with him, "You need to think more about what you're doing Freeze. Do you have any idea what this ability could do in the wrong hands?"

"It is not my concern what Giro does, the only thing that matters to me, is my wife." returned the apathetic Mr. Freeze.

"To the point of experimenting on abducted children? Even you can't be that cold." caromed Batman.

"Tears of sorrow for a mother's lost children does nothing to melt a frozen heart. For my sympathy for those who suffer is as cold as the blood that runs through my veins."

"Is this what Nora would want?' returned the knight, 'Her life in exchange for chaos, death and destruction? People will die because of you!"

Freeze walked over to the counter and surveyed the samples, "For me, any cost for my beloved is worth paying."

"Are you sure?" said Batman, "Never being able to hold her hand again is one thing, but your sorrow will hit a new level when she grows to resent the man she once loved."

Freeze clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as Batman went on, "If you go through with this and they do find a cure to bring Nora back, she won't recognize her husband anymore and will live in agony for years. Face it Victor, we both know she would be better off without you."

"SILENCE!" shouted Freeze as he, in his rage, threw the counter at the knight, who rolled out of the way. Ame's DNA samples crashed and spilled onto the floor, with only three phials still intact.

As Batman got to his knees, Mr. Freeze shot a cryo beam at him, in which the vigilante vaulted over another counter and shielded himself from the blast. He then came around the corner and hurled a bat-arang at his cold enemy that hit his glass dome, causing it to crack and release pressure.

Freeze recoiled horribly and staggered back while trying to seal the breach with his hands while screaming, "BURNING, IT'S BURNING!"

He then ran to a control switch next to the door and sealed the entrance shut, while crying out in pain. Batman ran up behind him to stop whatever it was he was attempting to do, but Freeze turned and knocked him into a wall with his super human suit. Victor then hit a few other buttons and pulled down a lever in which the room began to blow out a huge mist of cryo vapor into the room.

Batman coughed as he felt his lungs beginning to freeze, then found his hand pulled back and pinned to the wall in a chunk of ice. He tried to pull himself free, but was engulfed in the discharge of Freeze's gun and had his hole body encased in frost, save his head.

Once seeing the vigilante trapped, Freeze took the remaining samples and stored them in a compartment in his suit. He then went and picked up the small cage that the hibernating Ame was in and said, "Your biggest weakness detective is never admitting when you are outmatched. Did you really hope to stop us all?"

He sealed up his dome with ice before quitting the lab, leaving Batman alone helpless with his body beginning to shut down and enter a stasis mode. On his radio, Oracle was trying to talk to him, but was not answered. She then said with intense worry, "Hang on Bruce, help is coming!"

_(Sorry if I upset any Twilight fans I couldn't help it!)_


	12. Reinforcements

**Chapter 10**

**Reinforcements**

The sun shown through a small port hole of a private jet. A small chime went off signifying that the aircraft was beginning it's descent. Sitting in one of the chairs was young man of about 17 with his head rested against the window and was steadily asleep. He had buzzed black hair and a rather slender, yet toned build.

While, another young adult of about 26 was sitting at the bar by a booth taking sips from a drink. He was taller and well built like an gymnast and had long black hair that he kept tied in a ponytail.

Suddenly, a face time ring came in on his laptop, so he sat down and accepted the call to see the face of Oracle on his screen.

"Hey Babs,' said he with a tease, 'We're just landing now."

"Good, the sooner the better,' returned Oracle, 'I still can't get a hold of Bruce, but from what I can see, his vitals are still active. I'm worried Dick."

Grayson rubbed his chin and reassured, "Don't worry, I'll fix everything."

"Oh I'm sure.' she responded sarcastically, 'Have you had the time to read up on my report?"

"Yeah, and I gotta say, it's interesting,' returned Dick, 'Six of Gotham's most dangerous criminals coming over to help a Yakuza leader in kidnapping two 'wolf' children. I gotta hand it to ya Barb, even Joker couldn't get a laugh out of this."

"Trust me it's real, please Dick, I know it's crazy but you have to trust me on this!" she pled.

"It'll be alright, we'll save Batman and have those loonies back in black gate and Arkham before you can say wasabi."

At this point, the wheels hit the runway which caused the sleeping passenger to jolt up in shock.

"We're here Tim!" said Dick to the young man.

Tim rubbed his eyes and moaned, "Man, 12 hour time zones create the worst jet lag."

Once the plane taxied to the terminal, they walked out into the airport. Once looking out the window, Dick took a step back, "Apparently, our pilot doesn't know Japan at all…"

"What's the matter?" asked Tim.

Turning to him and motioning towards the window, he responded, "Does this look like Tokyo to you?"

Tim took a moment to look around, the were surrounded by blue water that hugged tightly around coasts of green mountains. Within the building he could see military personnel of the western descent roaming about. "Where are we?" asked Tim.

"Well, we're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy." jested Richard, "This is the Kadena air force base in Okinawa."

"Does Lucius know we're here?" stammered Tim.

"Indeed I do Mr. Drake." came the kindly reply closely behind them.

They turned to see the individual mentioned coming up to shake their hands.

"Care to explain the detour Mr. Fox?" asked Dick.

"It was a precaution to keep unnecessary eyes off of Wayne enterprises,' replied Lucius, 'Mr. Wayne made his appearance yesterday and was believed to have left. The itinerary for Tokyo's airport would have shown two private jets belonging to Mr. Wayne coming and going within 24 hours of each other."

"So why bring us to an air force base?"

"Well, I have to unload your 'belongings' and get you over to Tokyo without raising too much suspicion. As far as the military is concerned, Wayne enterprises has donated servers and experimental equipment for their co-owners, you two, to try out in this region. A word of caution to both of you not to be seen in your 'night time' attire. Masks, capes and black and red leotards are not considered military fashion."

"Speaking of that,' replied Tim, 'What do you have for us anyway?"

Lucius smiled, "It was a little tricky getting this over here in a day, but I have been working on a few new things."

They walked up to two large metal crates, in which Mr. Fox pointed out, " In here are the two motorcycles you've been hounding me to develop for you Mr. Grayson." He then grabbed a PDF with an image on it and held it up. "They're BMW GS's, dual sport, they're fast, nimble and can handle any terrain plus they come with three storage compartments on the back."

"What cc?" asked Dick.

"1200"

"I dunno Lucius, that might be too big for Tim…" said Grayson with a smile.

"Hey now,' responded the teased, 'I'm a big boy too, remember?"

"Thanks for the reminder,' said Dick, who turned to Fox and asked, 'Anything to worry about?"

"Well,' responded Lucius, 'I've modified them for more, 'vigorous,' ventures. And don't worry, they both come in black, one has blue stripes the other has red. But I would strongly recommend reading the instructions first."

"Thanks, Mr. Fox, now how do we get over to the mainland?"

Lucius had them walk down the air field while responding, "In response to our generosity, the military donated a bird of their own for you to use."

They both paused at the vehicle mentioned, Tim then asked of Dick, "You know how to pilot one of those right?"

…

Gazing upon the inner bulkheads of the fuselage, Yuki tossed and turned on a bed in the crew's quarters after a restless nights sleep. Eventually she threw her legs over the side with high hopes when seeing a bright blue sky shining through one of the portholes. She dressed herself in her blue school uniform, (for it was all she had) and went to descend down the large step ladder into the cargo hold.

Her heart sank into disappointment when finding the Bat-mobile still missing. As she made her way down, she then yelped slightly at the tenderness of her stitches, then approached the bat computer. She began typing a few keys, but the mainframe did not respond.

"Hello?' said she to it, hoping someone would hear, 'Ummm, O-oracle, or uggh, Batman?"

There was no response, in which the teen started to look for a way to open the tail gate. She began to poke around the equipment and mechanized crates. Her curiosity was aroused by one with a lid and tried to open it to see what was inside. As her hands attempted to pry, a warning bleep chimed in and Yuki felt an electrical shock hit her palms.

"Ow!" she yelled with frustration as she pulled her hands away. In her anger she kicked the crate, in which she stubbed her toe and began hopping around.

Her little tantrum was interrupted when hearing a muffled growl that began to grow louder. The growls then turned into repeated chops that thudded throughout the chasms. Suddenly they died off, followed by a weak squeal, as if a machine were powering down.

Yuki then took a step back as the nose of the C-5 began to raise. Just parked out front was another military aircraft, the dual prop helicopter known as the Boeing CH-47 Chinook. She backed away and hid behind another crate when the hatches opened up.

She peeked her eyes around to see who the pilots were. Her eyes widened to see a young single adult followed by a late teenager closer to her age emerging from the chopper. They looked around a moment, then approached the C-5.

The older one called out, "Hello, anyone home?"

Yuki was too intimidated to speak or even make her presence known, for she knew not who these strangers were. They came up the loading ramp with caution. Yuki backed away and put her hand on the object she was hiding behind as support, which chimed and gave her another shock.

She fell into view in front of the strange men, who paused and looked upon her with startled curiosity. She gazed back at them, unknowing of what to say or do.

The most she could think to say was, "Who are you?"

Dick slanted his head, "We're the relief party, and I guess that makes you the welcoming committee."

"How do I know you don't work for those other guys?" said she suspiciously.

This time Tim took the initiative to answer, "We're friends of Batman, well or should I say, he let's help from time to time. Your name is Yuki, am I right?"

She did not respond at first, she only peered into the young man's handsome face and was taken in by a trance. Eventually it was broken by the scoff of Grayson who noticed the little infatuation.

"Oh, yeah." she replied with a blush.

"We're here to help you get your brother back." returned Tim.

Yuki slowly pulled herself off the floor and dusted herself off. "How do you know all of that?"

"Would you believe he's psychic?" said Dick as he walked over to the computer.

Meanwhile the girl moved closer to Tim with her hands together while staring at the floor, "So, I'm Yuki…" said she.

Tim glanced over at her with an eyebrow cocked, "Yeah…..I know…."

Running her finger nervously through her hair she asked, "What's your name?"

Dick then returned from the monitor, "Don't get too attached, we're not planning on staying too long." He then pressed a few buttons in which the screen flickered onto life, leaving Yuki to gawk with understandable confusion.

"Babs, we're here now." he said while bringing up a few programs.

The voice of Oracle came through the speakers, "So I've noticed, anyway how's the girl?"

"She's fine, any news on Batman?"

"His bio metrics are still active, stable, but very weak. I've been monitoring his location and it hasn't changed since last night."

"Well at least we still know where he is."

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. Freeze has all that he needs for his research, and if this Giro succeeds, it could mean hundreds of people killed."

"That won't happen Barb,' replied Dick, 'We'll head to the cryogenics lab tonight and get to work"

After that Dick began working on a few more things and ordered for Tim to open up the crates and see what they could use. Yuki was even more stunned with amazement when seeing Tim do so without getting an electrical shock.

"How do you open those without getting hurt?" she asked.

"A magic touch." replied Tim with a flirt.

Dick then called out, "You just need to know how to say please."

As Tim was examining the equipment, Dick came back from the computer to talk to the girl more. "Hey there kid, so we need to know what we're up against."

"Well there's the Jokster guy, and ptarmigan and dual face and…"

"No not about them….and that's Joker, Penguin and Two face….anyway we've known them for more years than you've been in school. I'm talking about you."

"What do you mean?"

"This ability you and your brother supposedly have, how far does it go?"

The girl tilted her head in which Tim informed, "We need to know if it's true and how dangerous it is."

Looking back at the older teen she said, "I'm not dangerous."

"We know that kid,' returned Grayson, 'but other people are, and we need to see what your ability is, to get an idea of how to stop it if it falls into the wrong hands."

With some embarrassment, Yuki returned, "Ok, but I can't do all of it,' then pointing to her stitches, 'they might tear."

"That's fine, just show what you can."

Then before the two men, Yuki's form rapidly altered. Her flesh was covered in light brown fur, her face developed a snout, her hands produced claws and the final touch were canine ears at the top of her head.

"Well, there's something some you don't see every day." said Tim.

"I've seen enough." returned Dick, in which Yuki reverted her appearance.

Grayson then asked, "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but has anyone ever been hurt because of your little gift?"

"Well,' started Yuki taking her eyes elsewhere, 'me and my brother got into a fight a few years ago, that tore the house up pretty good."

"Okay, but has anyone ever been hurt."

With a heavy sigh she admitted, "Once there was a new boy at school named Souhei and he made me really upset and I scratched his ear."

"How bad was it?"

"He needed stitches and had a bandage on for a few weeks….and still has a scar."

Dick nodded, "Can you change over at will?"

"Yeah….I try not to as much anymore."

"Is there anything that can cause you to change against your will?"

"Sometimes when I get really angry or scared, it'll naturally try to take over."

Dick then looked over to Tim, "When was the last time you got your rabies shot? Because I think we'll be having to play dog catcher if this all goes down."

He then went out to the Chinook and brought in each hand, large, metal suitcases. And told Tim to do the was slightly bashful at the boy's departure, though she would deny the beguin feeling felt in his presence, it was in modern terms, a crush she had on him.

Drake returned with carrying cases of the like nature and set them down.

"What's in those?" asked Yuki.

Time smiled and said with a hint to sound impressive, "We're kind of like werewolves, when the moon comes out, we turn into something else. And it's all in here."

"You mean, you wear animal costumes too?" she asked with a slight ridiculing drawl.

This time Dick intervened, "Yeah, but we just look cooler. Once night comes around, we'll get your brother back."

…

Will the two suitors were preparing for their night time ventures the despicable trio of Joker, Penguin and Crane were sitting in a nice office area, each glaring at each other with distrustful eyes. Just then, Two -Face burst through the door with a look of rage and a newspaper in his hand.

"We just lost the girl!" he shouted.

"How could she have strong armed that crocodile monster?" stuttered Penguin.

"You mean this freak?!" snapped back Harvey as he threw the newspaper onto the small coffee table in front of them. Though the script was in Japanese, the image of Croc's inverted body dangling over the side of the building said it all.

"Well that's not fair!" murmured Joker, "How come I'm not in the morning paper!?"

Crane rubbed his temple, "Never mind the mutant, what about the girl, I needed her for research of my own."

Suddenly, a very hostile voice came from the door, "I do not think your needs are as important as Giro's!"

They all turned to see the man in the black suit holding the briefcase, who was accompanied by two personal body guards.

"Well if is isn't Giro's little mouth piece, Kawaguchi…" returned Crane with disrespect.

The man spoken of returned, "You were entrusted with the security and discreetness of this project my employer hired you for! You have failed us!"

Two face became more aggressive, "It wasn't us, it was the gator who let you down."

Penguin then intervened, "The more important question is, who thwarted killer croc?"

This time, the synthesized voice of Mr. Freeze entered the room, "I believe I have the answer to that…"

Enraged at the presence of the exo suit, Kawaguchi marched up to him, "You are supposed to be in the lab, guarding the boy!"

In no mood to be trifled with, Freeze grabbed the mobster by the lapel and lifted him up above his head. One of the body guards attempted to pull them away but was knocked into the bookshelf by Freeze's other arm, who then pulled his freeze gun from it's holster and aimed it at the face of the other. The goon stopped at the sight of the barrel and backed away as the weapon began to power up.

Looking up into Kawaguchi's face, Victor warned, "I do not take orders from you…"

"You wouldn't dare…" said he.

Joker then let out, "Ooooooh, careful he's crazier then me, hee hee hee!"

Insistent to show his determination, Freeze walked over to the window and threw Kawaguchi into it hard enough to make it crack, and pinned him there. The mobster then threatened, "If you kill me…we'll go after Nora."

"You should not have said that." returned Victor as he threw the man into an office desk and took aim.

The other villains, save Crane, pointed their guns at Freeze to stop him. "We've come to far to have you mess this up now!" said Two face.

Cooling his nerves, Victor put his cryo gun away and addressed, "The culprit behind the alligators incarceration, was Batman."

With disbelief, Two face kicked over the coffee table with pure hatred, while penguin shook his head and began to light up a cigar. Surprisingly, Joker only smiled with excitement.

Freeze then replied, "I have him frozen at the lab and will not be a problem."

"You didn't kill him?!" said Two face while clenching his fists.

"I thought of a better idea." returned Freeze. "Perhaps his little visit here could be taken as a national intrusion in which we can have him handed over to the NPA."

By this time, Kawaguchi arose and said, "That actually may play into our hands in a more profitable way. I suggest we hold him for ransom and see if Gotham's commissioner Gordon will pay to have him released."

"Of course!' said Joker, 'Oh, why not kill him when you could make money off of him…?"

Kawaguchi then looked to Freeze and asked, "Do you have the product yet?"

Victor returned, "That is half the reason why I came up here. I am also reporting that I have concocted a serum from the boys blood, however it is not ready yet for human experimentation yet. There seems to be a chromosome missing that could perfect the process, and it can only be found in a female specimen."

He then turned to the other three, "You need to bring me the girl."

"How are we to do that?" said Penguin, "We don't even know where Batman has taken her."

Joker then intervened, "Whenever I lost my puppy as a boy, I didn't go looking or him, I gave him a reason to come to me!"

As he walked out of the room, the clown gave one last word, "I'll get you your girl back."


	13. Bird's of a Feather

Chapter 11

Birds of a feather

The sun was beginning to drop below the horizon, in which the time for Dick and Tim to get to work was vastly approaching. Yuki was up in the cockpit area by command of the two young adults until bidden to come down, for they were changing into their night time attire.

Finally a voice called up to her, "Ok, you can come down now."

The girl then poked her head down the stairs and saw them in their unique apparel. Dick was dressed in a black body suit that had thin membranes in between light armored platings with a blue V that came down the shoulders and met at the chest. His final piece was a face mask that covered completely the eyes, brows and came down the cheeks.

Tim's suit consisted of a red short sleeved top piece (with a yellow R on the left breast) that had more of a gel layer in between the layers that served as protection, with brass gauntlets that strapped around the forearms and fingerless gloves of the same color protecting his hands. He had a yellow utility belt that held up black athletic looking pants with a red stripe going up and down the sides.

Unlike Dick, Tim had a small dual colored cape draped just past his base area, that was black on the back side, and yellow on the inside. He too was wearing a mask, that covered the same region as Dick, but was more jagged like a bird of prey and did not cover his face as much.

Yuki could not help but ask, "So what do they call you? Wait let me guess, Crow-Man and the Red Rouge?"

Raising an eyebrow at her questionable imprudence, Dick corrected, "Nightwing,' then pointing to Tim, 'Robin."

"Oh,' stammered Yuki, 'Anyone ever call you bird boy?"

With some agitation, Nightwing responded, "Yes….."

He then went over to the computer and began to punch in a few commands, a gridded map of Tokyo displayed onscreen in which a red dot flashed and zoomed in on one alley way.

"Ok the bat-mobile's homing beacon is working." said Grayson.

Robin walked to it and radio'd, "Barb, do you have a live satellite feed on Batman's car?"

Oracle then appeared on another monitor, "Yes, and I suggest you hurry, a police unit just pulled up to inspect it. I'm monitoring the radio's and it appears he's calling for others to help him."

"That's not good,' said Dick, 'Bruce is the only one that can disable the counter measures. Those boys in blue will get a nasty surprise if they try to tow it, or even so much as put a parking ticket under the windshield wiper."

"Well then there's no reason to stay here." said Tim.

Nodding, the two vigilantes opened up one of the metal crates they had brought with them. Nightwing pulled out two sophisticated batons and secured them to his back. While Robin took out a small staff with the same style of advanced look.

Looking back at Yuki, Dick said, "Ok, we're going out for our friend, are you going to be fine by yourself?"

"I don't know…" she said with a plea.

"Of course you will!" concurred Grayson happily.

He then began pulling up some files on the bat-computer until a loading screen came on.

"Here that'll keep you occupied." he said.

Yuki came up to the keyboard and asked, "What is it?"

"It's a game I used to play when I was still in college." returned Dick as he gave her the seat.

She looked at the main title that read, 'maze of the minotaur.' She then glanced at the two men walk down the ramp and into the Chinook. From the rear loading ramp of the helicopter, they rolled down two motorcycles.

They were the BMW 1200 cc's that Lucius made mention of earlier. Nightwing threw his leg over the seat of his and hit the kick stand up. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Robin trading glances with Yuki, who stared at him with eagerness.

Rolling his eyes, Dick fired up his engine, then purposefully spun up the dirt with his rear wheel with a hard donut, popped the clutch and sped off with a slight wheelie.

Coughing and waving the grit from his face, Robin, feeling the need to show off in front of the teenage girl, pulled the hood over his head, turned his engine over and rolled the throttle to give it a high rev.

Yuki raised her eyebrows and smiled to see what he would do next. Tim then gave her a salute with two fingers while showing and masculine smolder. He then popped the clutch but forgot his other hand was not on the throttle. The bike lurched forward with a jolt and died.

Bowing his head in shame, Robin quickly cranked the bike back to life and bolted out as soon as he could.

…

Within the city of Tokyo, were a set of officers of the NPA examining the bizarre bat-mobile parked just off into the alley. Just above them, was a ledge in which Nightwing and Robin were peering over and examining their actions.

With a set of binoculars to his eyes, Nightwing scanned the area while Robin asked, "What are they doing?"

"Nothing. Wait hang on, it seems like one is on the phone."

Robin then leaned forward to get a better look. "You think he's calling for more backup or a tow truck?"

Nightwing then pulled from his belt a directional microphone and aimed it at the group of officers. After some listening, he said, "It doesn't sound like it's another unit he's speaking with."

After a little while of observation, another vehicle pulled up to the police cars. Four men in black suits got out and approached the bat-mobile.

"Those aren't regular police, some kind of investigators maybe?" inquired Robin.

"There's only one group in Japan who wears suits like those." observed his superior.

The suits greeted the police and looked around to be sure that they were not being watched. One of them then placed some kind of computer device on the hood of the vehicle, then began to type series of buttons. Shortly after, the canopy opened.

"I don't believe it!" said Nightwing as he put his equipment away and raised his grapple.

"Whoa, Dick, those are cops we can't just…!" protested Robin.

"They're working for the Yakuza and they have just hacked into the bat-mobile, it's time to move!" snapped back Grayson as he swung into action.

Robin then leapt off the building and glided in to back his ally.

As one of the suits was climbing over to have a better look at the bat-mobile's driver seat another one of his comrades warned, "Be careful, you do not know what that thing is capable of."

Suddenly the attention of all was caught when a figure dropped from above and hit the ground hard in which they all turned to see Nightwing confronting them.

"I don't know how routine traffic stops go in Tokyo,' said he, 'but where I come from, cops need to at least pretend to have a warrant before search and seizure."

The two officers drew their guns and aimed them at the intruder. "Is that were you learned to disrespect the law?" one scoffed.

Robin then dropped from behind and hurled two throwing objects which liberated the firearms from their hands, "Where we come from,' he said coldly, 'we are the law."

In quick response, one of the officers withdrew his taser and fired the prongs at Drake who used his staff to deploy an expandable shield. However, the alloy conducted wonderfully with electricity which forced him to drop his staff and fall back.

The other officer went to taser Nightwing, who side flipped out of the way of the prongs and rushed in. He twisted the taser gun from his wrist, spun around him while popping the cartridge out, then stuck the spurs into his back and gave him a zap.

The officer yelped and jumped forward and spun around, then was knocked out cold with a hard right hook.

Nightwing then turned and aimed his wrist at the other officer contending with Robin and fired a small projectile in the back of his neck. He arose while grasping the transfixed area then collapsed and began snoring.

Smiling, Nightwing said to the remaining four suits, "Sleep dart!"

The four remaining men then reached into their suits as one said, "We have toys of our own too."

They each then pulled out weapons dealing with the martial arts, such as nunchakus, small katana, sai's and Tonfas.

"Well this will make things interesting." said Robin as he kicked his staff up into his hands. Nightwing pulled the batons from his back, tapped them together and said, "Shouldn't you guys practice falling down first?"

The four men separated two by two to each vigilante. The Tonfas made a series of swings and swipes for Robin who evades the first few sets of attacks then blocked a side strike which left his rib cage open for a blunt hit.

Nightwing was parred up against the katana and the nunchakus, and was spinning around and hopping over his attackers with ease while taunting, "_Hey, hey let's go Kenka suru!_"

He hit the swordsman away with a side thrust kick then used his baton to wrap up the chain of the hurling nunchaku then smacked the user in the head with the free hand while continuing the song, "_Taisetsu na mono protect my balls_!" Then threw his foot up into the groin of the mobster, making the man drop to his knees.

The swordsman then came back for revenge with a downward slice, but Grayson locked the edges up with top of his baton before two prongs poked out of the end cap, who went on, "_Boku ga warui, so let's fighting_!"

Suddenly, the prongs emitted an electrical stream which blew the swordsman back in an array of sparks. Nightwing then leapt through with a roundhouse kick to face of the man on his knees.

Robin jumped up and drop kicked both of his enemies in their chests then kipped off the ground. The thug with the sai's made a double lunge for the gut, but Tim moved to the side, hit both wrists with a downward strike with his staff, then swung up and battered the man upside the jaw, which leveled him to the ground.

The Yakuza with the tonfas came in but Robin extended both ends of his pole, hit the sciatic nerve to get him to fall, then bashed him on top of the skull.

Detracting the staff, Robin hurled it up and caught it while finishing the ballad, "_Let's fighting love, let's fighting love_!"

Nightwing approached and asked, "You okay? You took a few good hits back there."

Rubbing his ribs, Robin responded, "Yeah I'm fine."

"Alright just stay focused."

"You're starting to sound like 'him' y'know."

Nightwing put his batons away, and walked up to the bat-mobile. He examined the little computer on it and took it off the hood. "Robin, stay here and guard the car and tie these guys up, I'm going after the big guy."

…

In the cryogenics lab, two other Yakuza were cutting Batman free with torch lighters. The dark knight opened his eyes upon the disturbance which broke him from his meditative state.

"Kawaguchi said to keep him restrained until we can move him to a cell." said one.

From behind them was a whistle, they turned around to see two fists shoot forth and take them out. Nightwing had found his former partner, then took one of the torches and cut the caped crusader free from his icy restraint.

Eventually Batman was able to break free himself, then asked with displeasure, "What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, and you're welcome." Returned Nightwing with a sarcasm that was expectant of Batman's disapproval.

The dark knight's brow furled in which Dick took the innocent approach, "Barbara said you were in trouble and sent us over here."

"Us?" stammered Batman.

With a sigh, Grayson returned, "Robin's here too."

"I told Oracle I had it under control."

"Clarify for me your definition of, 'under control?'"

Batman walked past him and was about to leave when Dick called out to him, "Bruce we know about the kids and all that's going on. We also know somethings you don't."

Batman turned his head, Nightwing then went on, "There are members of the NPA working for the Yakuza and they were able to hack into the bat-mobile with this."

He then threw the computer device to him, in which the Knight caught it and began to examine it.

"Bruce I don't like this,' returned Dick, 'you know you need our help."

Batman was silent while scanning the small computer with his cowl. He then changed his tone, "Freeze took the boy, Joker, Two-face and Penguin are loose in Tokyo and no one knows why Crane is here. We need to put an end to this."

"Where do we start?"

"I'll get Ame, you two need go after the others."

"C'mon Bruce you know we can find him a lot faster if we all work together."

"You know they'll threaten innocent people if you don't stop them."

"Alright, I'll see what we can dig up with the other loonies."

"Good, we'll rendezvous at the C-5 when I get Ame and then go from there."

Nightwing nodded as they both walked out together.

They opened the door that led to the alley where Robin was sitting on the hood of the bat-mobile with the two officers and four Yakuza members restrained.

He jumped off and hid his eyes from the peering gaze of Batman.

"Those are members of the Yakuza?" he darkly asked.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" concurred Nightwing.

"I'll make him tell me where the boy is." said the dark knight as he grabbed one and shot himself up with a grapple.

Tim then said to Grayson, "I guess he's happy to see us?"

Looking up to the night sky Dick returned, "Batman's more happy to see us than that Yakuza will be to see him."

Robin rested his staff over his shoulders and asked, "So when do we go sight seeing?"

Nightwing approached the unconscious individuals and said, "We'll get to that later, right now we need to track down Dent, Cobblepot and Joker, and I think these guys will tell us exactly were to find them."


	14. Loose Lips and Broken Bones

**Chapter 12**

**Loose Lips and Broken Bones**

A pair of closed eyes winced, as the brow began to curl and a deep yawn followed. The eyelids of the man opened as he was slowly coming out of his unconsciousness. His eyes finally opened, yet was not totally coherent within the first few seconds.

He saw only black lines dividing bright squares that gridded downwards to a straight line of moving orbs.

At long last his senses came completely to, and noticed what he was staring at were the windows of sky scrapers in the night hanging hundreds of feet above the congested roads. Tossing in a panic he looked to his feet and found himself held up by one foot in the clutches of the hand of the Batman.

"Enjoy your nap?" asked the knight, with dark sarcasm.

The suit then began to kick in squirm in a frenzy when feeling the vertigo that was forced upon him. "What Are You Doing!? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"

"I know Giro hired the Joker to kidnap two children, and I know you work for him!' growled the dark interrogator, 'The boy, Ame, where are you keeping him?!"

"I-I don't know…" he pled with a quivering voice that was amplified by the hundreds of feet that stood between the concrete and the top of his skull.

"Wrong Answer!" returned Batman who let fall his arm, giving the sensation of dropping.

Struggling and whimpering the gangster shot back, "Why should I tell you? You're no different from the rest of us, that foolish city may idolize you but here, they answer to us!"

Batman lifted him up then let go. The man fell about two feet before being caught by the other foot then hoisted him back up Batman then turned him upright and held him over the ledge by the lapel. "Last Chance!" he threatened, "Don't make me break open your skull and look for the answers inside!"

Gritting his teeth, the yakuza taunted while under stress, "You think me a fool, we know of Gotham's man-bat, and that he doesn't kill!"

"So is that the rumor going around?" said the caped crusader darkly.

Batman then turned him around and held him by the back of his collar. The next thing the Yakuza heard was the grapple line being shot to an anchor point. Then to his astonishment, felt the cold cable lasso around his throat and synch tight until he coughed.

The Knight then lowered him until he was planked at an upward angle, with his feet planted on the ledge with him being held up by the neck. He fought to stay positioned for if his feet lost their footing, his neck would break at the end of the line.

"If you don't talk,' said Batman holding him up, 'you'll only get yourself killed."

Sputtering and gagging for air, the mobster was lowered until he was almost parallel with the ground. He gripped the line around his neck coughing and choking in intense pain and peril.

"Tell me which breaks first,' said Batman, 'your silence or your neck?"

"All- r-ight." he squirmed, "I-I'll talk!"

"I knew you would." said the knight as he pulled back up and held him by the scruff over the ledge.

The Yakuza thug then confessed, "I don't know where they are keeping the boy but Kawaguchi would know."

"Who is Kawaguchi!?"

"He's Giro's number two and organized this whole thing. The union with gotham's underground, kidnapping the children, he planned it all!"

Batman then brought him closer, "Where do I find him!?" he bellowed with an aggressive interrogative manner.

"We never know until the moment of. He's planning to meet with some of us tonight, I should be getting the message anytime!"

The caped crusader then tossed the goon behind him, landing with a heavy thud on the rooftop.

Batman then marched up to him as he scurried away, "Give me your phone."

The man dug into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, but pulled out a gun instead.

Batman caught the wrist with his hand fully wrapped around the knuckles and twisted the firearm out of his grip and hit the slide release for the magazine to fall out, then wracked the chamber to eject the live round before sliding the action off the stock.

Trembling the Yakuza pled, "No please don't!"

But the fist of the dark knight slammed into the side of his head, knocking him out. He then searched his pockets until he found a personal cell phone. He then dug into his utility belt until he retrieved some kind of adapter with a head phone cable attached in which he plugged it into the jack.

"Alfred I'm hacking into the phone of one of the yakuza members, and I need you to triangulate the position of Kawaguchi when he sends out a message."

"On it Master Bruce, and welcome back." replied the elegant butler.

It was then that the caped crusader decided to get an update from Nightwing and Robin.

**…**

During this time their was another interrogation of the like nature occurring on another rooftop. Three suites and two police officers where found on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs and finally coming to their senses.

As they gazed around, they found the blackened figure of Nightwing standing before them with his arms crossed in a triumphant pose.

"Rise and shine gentlemen." he said.

"You dare hold a member of the NPA hostage?!" stammered one of the officers, "We'll see to it that you'll never see the light of day again foreigner!"

With a juvenile smirk, Grayson returned, "I don't think the Japanese government looks too kindly upon it's city servants aiding and embedding a known criminal organization."

"What do you want from us?" said one of the suits with a sinister tone.

"Glad you asked,' replied Dick as he got on his haunches to bring himself at eye level, 'looks like some of you guys invited some friends of ours to hang out. We want to know where they're staying so we can bring them back home."

"What makes you think we'll talk to you?" said one of the cops with confident bravery.

Approaching him, Nightwing taunted darkly, "If you don't, I'll send you on a date with gravity."

"You wouldn't dare!" said the irate officer, while his partner bellowed, "You think your silly costume grants you diplomatic immunity? When your government finds out what you've…."

Before the officer could finish Nightwing kicked him in the chest sending him over the ledge, then performed a spinning back kick and launched the other cop over within moments of each other.

The three suits were silent and gawking in disbelief, while Nightwing only stretched his back and confront the remaining quadra.

"Now, who here is willing to tell me where Penguin, Two-Face, Freeze and Joker are?" said the young vigilante.

"It is my wish to die with honor rather than to betray the Yakuza!" said one fearlessly.

"Wish granted!" returned Dick as he threw off the first Yakuza.

On to the second, who trembled a little as Nightwing implored, "How 'bout you? Want to tell me where Gotham's slime is?"

"Never to you!" returned the mobster who was then kicked in the face and flipped over the roof top.

Then to the third and final, Grayson grabbed him by the lapel and held him over the ledge, "I hope you start talking, it's not everyday I'm in such a good mood." he taunted.

"You have some nerve yank!' replied the surviving Yakuza with some aggression, 'those officers were valuable assets to our clan."

"That's nothing when compared to what I've done to the crooked cops back home." sneered Nightwing.

He then began to tilt him over the side and said morbidly, "It's not true what they say by the way…"

The mobster began to shake while staring with wide eyed panic, while Grayson added, "…They say when you fall, you die before you hit the ground. Well, let's just say I've learned for myself that you see it all the way coming."

"Wait, Wait!" cried the terrified thug, "I'll talk!"

"Hurry then,' replied Dick, 'my hands are getting tired."

"The bird man and the deformed one will be at pier 18 at the Ocean master's shipping yard. There's a warehouse there by the harbors, that's where they'll be. The cold scientist is doing research in a private lab, however none of us know where it is seeing how the last one was compromised."

"Who would know?"

"Kawaguchi, he handles all of Giro's personal affairs, a secretary if you will."

"What about the Joker?"

"He's lurking around Tokyo in search of the young girl, he never said where! You have to believe me!"

Grayson relaxed his arms, "I do…" he said to the relief of the mobster, "Well have a nice trip."

Nightwing then relinquished his grip and the thug began to fall. He kicked and scrambled as a surge of shock overtook him. As the rooftop began to fall from view he suddenly found himself moved off to the side in mid air, as if by magic.

Moment's later, and rather disoriented, the last Yakuza found himself hanging upside down by his feet next to the side of one the neighboring buildings. Then looking to his side, he found his other two compadre's and two police officers dangling alongside him, each letting out gasps of fear and panic. They had been tethered the whole time and not in any immediate danger.

"So how'd it go?" came a young and cocky voice from the other side of the mobster.

He turned his head and saw Robin perched next to him. Shaking in anger the mobster growled, "I would rather die than suffer this humiliation at your hands!"

With a shrug Tim shot a grabble line to the rooftop Nightwing was on, "Sorry to leave you hanging but I gotta punch in." With that said, the vigilante in red zipped away to regroup.

As Robin got over the ledge he found Nightwing on his comms talking to Batman.

"Bruce I got a location on Dent and Cobblepot, They're at a harbor just a few miles out. Sounds like they're taking there orders from some big cheese named Kawaguchi."

Over the static Batman's voice could be heard, "What of Joker and Freeze?"

"Freeze is in a new lab and no one know's what the clown is doing other than he's trying to get Yuki back."

"That's not good, he'll but innocents in danger to draw her out."

"What makes you say…"

"I know him Dick." said Batman subtlety.

"Last thing,' started Nightwing, 'The only way to find out where Freeze is, would be Kawaguchi, Giro's right hand man. He may know more about the whereabouts of Ame."

"I'll be sure to ask him when I see him, Batman out." The radio was then silenced.

Looking towards Robing, Dick sighed, "Well Tim, looks like we're heading to the docks."

They began to walk across the roof top towards the motorcycles which were parked a few blocks away. It was then that Robin commented, "We should really talk to Lucius about having those things auto drive to our location."

…

Meanwhile on the other rooftop Batman received a call from Alfred in which his butler informed, "Sir this Kawaguchi fellow just sent out a mass text. Using the signals he reached out to, it appears that he is requesting a meeting with some key Yakuza members at Ocean Master's sushi."

"Get me the address and I'll go introduce myself." said the knight as he then dove off the rooftop and into the Batmobile.

As he secured himself and the car came to life he flipped on his receiver and said, "Oracle run a quick schematic on the Batmobile and tell me if you find any irregularities."

Shortly after, Barbara said, "Glad to hear that your alright, what am I looking for?"

"Nightwing said that the Batmobile's counter measures were hacked using some kind of computer device. Whenever there is a breach the Bat computer stores it, can you pull up the recent history of any kind of hack?"

After some silence Oracle said with some gloom, "It looks like the last one was last month when a goon tried break in through the windshield and was electrified."

Quickly Batman ordered, "Throw up every fire wall we have in our database we may have a software breach."

"How could the Yakuza hack into your network? It's almost impossible to hack even for me."

"Nightwing said that the Yakuza has infiltrated the NPA. When I donated the servers they may be using the upgrades to enhance their techniques."

"That may explain how the case files and anything related to it disappeared concerning Yuki and Ame's abduction," concurred Oracle.

"Exactly, we may have unknowingly helped the Japanese mob by supplying the NPA with the servers." said the dark knight with sharp analyzes.

"That's one way to shoot yourself in the foot." returned Barbara.

"Not exactly,' replied the crusader, 'remember that software came with a trojan that I installed, I always have a fail safe."

"So let's activate it and fry their network."

"That's what I plan on, however if we do that too soon then we'll loose our ability to monitor and track all that goes on in Japan while we're here."

"Well maybe I can do some hacking of my own." returned Oracle.

"See what you can do Barbara, I'm on my way to have a talk with this Kawaguchi."

…

Within some of the more discrete corners of the city of Tokyo was a small restaurant with dimly flickering blue, neon lights that read, 'ocean master sushi' Within the eatery were a group of Yakuza members, each enjoying seaweed salad, sashimi, nigiri and other cola-nary delights of the eastern culture.

Kawaguchi soon appeared and looked upon his guests then noticed an empty chair at the bar and asked, "Where is Hiroshi?"

"He has been out of contact since he was sent to the cryogenics lab." replied another.

Another, when taking a swig of sake inquired, "He was on his way to deal with the bat fool, how has his progress been?"

Behind them was another voice of pure aggression and subtle masculinity say, "See for yourself."

The group of men turned to see the vengeful Batman standing in the door way, ready to confront each of the mobsters. "We can make this easy if you like. Which one of you is Kawaguchi?"

The man whom was sought after arose and calmly replied, "Yes, I do feel that this will be quiet easy. Men, we have an uninvited guest who seeks to dishonor us, you know what to do."

The group of about half a dozen mafia men stood, withdrew various weapons and went to engage the ever so vigil intruder.

Batman wasted no time, he jumped forth, up and over the first villain, grappled onto his collar and threw him as he flipped over him. The human body hurled towards the group and leveled three.

One picked up a chair and rushed in to brawn the vigilante with it, however the bat ducked under the swipe, came up with a knee to the gut before twisting the seat from his enemy's hands and breaking the legs over the back of his head.

Two more attempted to engage. The dark knight through a back elbow into the jaw of one then took hold of the lapel and belt of the other, flipped him over his shoulders and sent slamming down into a nearby table.

Batman was quickly rushed at by a deranged Yakuza, who calmly stepped out of the way letting the charger move past him. Before the man realized he had been evaded, the knight shot his bat claw at the back of the man's collar. Once the line snagged, the henchmen shot back in a whiplash motion, hitting his head on the hard ground.

Our caped crusader was then checked into the sushi bar, who recovered and saw a switch blade swinging violently for him. Batman could not evade as he was backed up, he could only perry a few swipes before his hand was cleared and the knife came down straight into his chest.

Unbeknownst to the knife man, was that the bat embroidery that he attempted to pierce was the strongest area of the suit, reinforced kevlar. The blade broke, in which Batman lunged forward, grabbed the mobster's head and through his face through the glass shield of the bar, shredding his facade.

Another mobster rushed in and threw a round house kick, but Batman caught the ankle, pulled the leg forward to where it rested upon the bar, leaving the man in an awkward front split. Batman's forearm then came barreling down upon the knee joint and blew it out of place, leaving his victim screaming.

The final goon jumped in and managed to get his hands around Batman's neck and began strangling him while having him bent over the sushi bar. Gritting his teeth, the dark knight grabbed a chopstick atop the counter and lodged it into his opponent's ear.

He arose with the protrusion sticking from the side of his head and yelped in agony before Batman's fist leveled him to the floor.

When seeing his security eradicated, Kawaguchi turned and tried to flee out the back through the kitchen. However Batman got a hold of him and threw him into the wall and demanded, "The boy, Ame, where did you take him to!?"

Wincing, Kawaguchi returned with defiance, "I only answer to Giro. My loyalty to him is stronger than a thousand burning suns!"

Unknowingly, Batman was given an idea, who said, "Let's put it to the test."

He then hurled the mobster through the tables, then kicked him out the front door as he was scrambling to escape. Once Batman got Kawaguchi into the street he pressed a few buttons and his gauntlet to summon the Bat-mobile.

He held the Yakuza down as the demonic vehicle rolled up beside them.

"You wish to take me to the police?" taunted Kawaguchi with relaxed disrespect.

"Not exactly." returned the dark knight as he drug the man to the rear of the car.

He held Kawaguchi's face close to the after burner, then with a few more keystrokes, the rocket shot out a beam of intense flame, in which the mobster's head was getting pushed closer towards it. Kawaguchi tried with his might to push back, but he was not strong enough.

"How shall I send you to Giro?' yelled Batman, "Medium or extra crispy!?"

"Stop! Stop! I'll talk!" pled the frenzied individual.

The after burner shut off and Kawaguchi was turned to face the knight, "Where is Ame!?"

"He's at the warehouse on a dock owned by ocean master sushi! He's being protected by both Penguin and Two face!"

"Is Freeze there too?"

"No, he's still working on the serum in a discrete place. A place that only Giro knows of!"

"Where's Giro!?"

Kawaguchi looked away, "I can't tell you…"  
With hostile impatience, Batman put the thug's face right in front of the after burner to where he could see down it. Next thing he could hear were more keystrokes in which he heard the Bat-mobile's engine beginning to fire up. He saw an intense orange light coming out the vent in which screamed, "NO!"

His face was pulled away just in time as the flame shot forth.

"Changed your mind?!" gritted the knight.

Sobbing, Kawaguchi weakly muttered, "I won't tell you, but I can give you a lead." He then pulled out his phone and said, "It's all in here, it's encrypted, but all the information is in here."

Batman took the phone and pocketed it and said darkly, "Thank you."

He then threw Kawaguchi on his hands and knees. Before he could arise, Batman's knuckles slugged him in the back of the neck and drove his nose straight into the concrete.

He did not move much after that, therefore Batman jumped into the vehicle and radio'd, "Dick when you reach the dock, hold until I arrive. I'm on my way there too."


	15. The Demon in the Darkness

**Alright I know that three months ago I said I'd upload chapters monthly, well sorry for such a late update I'll try to do better.**

* * *

**Chapter 13 **

**The Demon in the Darkness**

Along the many docks and harbors of outer Tokyo was were the ocean master's dock was said to have resided. Just off the in the distance, but still in view, was a large crane overlooking the ocean were Robin and Nightwing were perched atop at the end of the jib and surveying the scene.

"See anything?" inquired Robin.

Nightwing, who had the binoculars, returned jokingly, "Buildings, water, and lots of boats."

"Hmm, How bout thugs and hostages."

"That's more like it,' returned Grayson who was pleased with the specifics, 'not yet…"

"They're in there." came the foreboding voice of Batman from behind them.

Both looked back to see the gothic embodiment of brutal justice crouching on the perch of the tower with his cape flowing sideways like a flag.

Robin was the first to speak up and said with a greeting, "I don't suppose this means we get the rest of the night off now that you're here."

Less than amused, the dark knight returned heavily, "We need to get Penguin and Two-Face out of the way."

"What about getting Ame to safety?" asked Dick.

Batman arose while squinting at the warehouse, "I'll take of him."

Tim then asked, "Wouldn't it be faster and easier for the three of us to take em' down and save the kid together?"

"We _are_ doing this together,' returned the caped crusader, 'we just have to do it separately."  
Robin then began to fire off with agitation, "What about Joker, Freeze and this serum he's making? What about the Yakuza and the crooked cops helping them? What about…?"

"One thing at a time Tim." returned Batman with a forceful calm in his voice.

Then pointing to the warehouse said, "I need you two to make a distraction to draw out Two-face's and Penguin's gangs and hopefully the bosses themselves, then ambush them."

"But they'll lock the warehouse down with Ame inside!" stammered Nightwing.

Batman straightened his back then replied with cold confidence, "I'm counting on it." With that said he leaned forward and allowed himself to fall from view.

Nightiwing then put his binoculars away and forfeited his reconnoiter session, "Now the question is; how do we draw them out?"

Robin was quick to reply, "I don't suppose we should knock?"

A thought then suddenly pressed itself upon Grayson, "In a matter of speaking. This dock has to be have a surveillance system of it's owned by the Yakuza, if we create enough suspicious activity without being detected, they'll probably get called out to investigate and then we can go from there."

Before Robin could rejoin the idea with his own, Nightwing leapt off the jib and already began to make his way to the warehouse.

During this time within the large structure that held Ame, Penguin and Two-face were discussing further plans when their scheme was brought to success.

"So what will you do with your share of the money?" Two-face snarled in his gravely tone.

"Perhaps add more to the ice berg lounge, or invest in more firearms to ensure my rightful place as Gotham's most powerful crime lord."

The only eyebrow on Dent's face creased, "You think you run that city? It answers to Us and only Us!"

"I admire your vain ideals,' returned Cobblepot with a condescending tone of sarcasm, 'However, it will be impossible for you to dethrone me especially when considering my portion of the profits."

Dent suddenly was stricken with dumbfoundness, "We aren't getting an equal cut?!"

Penguin shifted a little at the presumed ignorance of his temporary comrade, "You think Giro was to impart among us equally? You must understand that in a world such as this, it is the intelligent who will rule supreme over his subordinates."

Enraged, the dual facade nearly screamed, "I've got 100 big ones riding on this AND I'LL BE DAMNED IF GIRO IS HOLDING OUT ON ME!"

Cobblepot suddenly altered his complexion, "How much did he offer you?"

"One hundred million."

The monocle fell from Penguin's eye socket, "That's what I was told in regards to my share…I was also told that mine was the larger portion seeing how I was smuggling weapons to him." He then spoke more carefully and inquired of Two-face, "Did Giro tell you to never divulge the full details of your compensation?"

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't." Growled Dent who owed no loyalty.

"Were you told that your share would be the largest out of the others?"

Two-face contemplated, "Yeah…what are you thinking?"

Penguin pounded his umbrella to the ground, "That we have been had my friend!"

"That slimy two timing bastard played us?!" shot back Two-face connecting the dots. "We're not getting dime for this!"

Just then their conversation was interrupted by a henchmen who approached them, "Hey boss we may have trouble outside."

"What kind of trouble?" gritted Dent.

"Camera's have picked up some movements behind the crates and Ace and Razor aren't answering their radios."

"It better not be who I think it is…" Two-Face said threateningly.

Cobblepot began to scamper away and called back, "See to it then."

"And where do you think you're going!?" barked Dent following ore.

With elegant pride to cover his cowardice, Penguin returned, "A man of my stature and importance cannot be risked to be seen and suspected of such a plot for it would be bad for business. God speed my friend I'm sure you can handle it from here."

Unsatisfied with that plan, Harvey went to approach and confront the little man, but as he had done so one of the henchman's radios went off and all that could be heard were cries for help followed by conflict.

Penguin froze knowing that exiting the warehouse would be futile.

"On second thought,' he rejoined with anxiety, 'perhaps we should dispatch a few men first to make sure that it is secure…?"

Pleased at the change of heart, Two-Face gave some cooperation, "I'll send half of my men."

"You and your halves…" grumbled Penguin at Dent's infatuation with all things binary.

At this point Penguin called for reinforcements to investigate the disturbance outside while Two-Face did the same. As the relief party was beginning to exit the building, the two crime lords went to one of the corners were Ame was caged. Next to his enclosure was a table with more samples of his DNA except this time it varied; from beyond blood, was also hair, skin samples, bone marrow and others.

The boy seemed mistreated but in otherwise all in good health. However the shock collar was still applied to his neck and he had a small needle feeding him small doses of some stimulant to keep him under control.

"We need to get him out of here." said Two-face.

"And do what with him? Take him to Giro?" replied the doubting Cobblepot.

Dent was quick to rationalize a plan, "First we tell the snow man that Giro isn't playing a straight game, then use the kid as a bargaining chip to force his hand into forking over the money he promised."

"And the clown?"

Two-Face grunted with disregard, "He's expendable."

At this point one of the henchmen approached the crime lords with a look of refined satisfaction, "Hey boss, you better come take a look outside and see who we caught lurking around."

They nodded and Two-Face motioned to a few other thugs, "Guard the boy, we'll be back."

As Dent and Cobblepot were leaving the warehouse to inspect the cause of the disturbance, one of the goons said to the other with some sympathy in regards to the boy, "Is it safe to keep him doped up like this?"

The other answered, "Trust me man, this kid will tear your throat out."

Nodding, the goon then asked in regards to the samples on the table, "What's with all this stuff, isn't it a little overboard?"

Being answered again with less patience the other said, "Look one of the doctors wanted them so we're just doing what he says until we get paid."

At this time the main door slid open and light flooded the front of the warehouse were Two-Face and Penguin could see a handful of delinquents surrounding Robin, who was on his knees and well guarded while one of the goons had his staff confiscated.

"Evening Gentlemen!" said Drake with sarcasm.

"Always the ever so persistent brat." sneered Cobblepot as he approached Robin and hit him in the gut with his umbrella.

Two-Face was wary and suspicious and walked up to Drake and put his scarred face to his and hissed, "We know little birdies travel in flocks, and We know you're not alone! Where is your friend!?"

Tim looked up with a smile, "Why don't you flip a coin to find out."

Harvey stood up straight and held out his coin while withdrawing his .45, "How 'bout We flip it to see whether or not We kill you right now!"

A medal pang faintly rang through the air as the coin was sent spinning rapidly through the air. Suddenly, as it was coming down to meet his palm, a flying projectile struck his hand causing him to miss the dime piece.

Yelping and grasping his wrist, Dent looked back in rage at the cause of the disturbance and saw Nightwing jumping out of the shadows and engaging two henchmen, one of which had Robin's staff.

Throwing an elbow into the jaw of one then grabbing the staff of the other in a baring notion, Grayson rolled backwards and launched the henchmen behind him. When coming to his feet he tossed the pole over to Robin who had already leapt up, caught it then extended it to wallop on the goons who were guarding him.

Two-Face took aim at Nightwing but Robin saw the danger his ally was in and threw a small pellet at Dent's feet which enveloped him in a volume of smoke. Coughing and finding great struggle to see and breath he staggered backwards out of the smokescreen were Penguin grabbed onto his shoulder and said, "They're here for the boy, quickly we must get inside!"

Two-Face nodded as the they retreated back into the warehouse. Dent then called out to the contending henchmen, "Keep em' busy!" the sliding door was then shut and locked.

The two crime lords made their way to Ame's cage, once there Cobblepot collected the samples and secured them in a suitcase and took the needle out of the boy's arm.

"What are you doing!?" growled Two-Face.

Penguin quickly retorted, "We have to move him out of here, I already have a vehicle being prepared to transport him."

Ame, being coherent enough, spitted, "I'm not going anywhere!"

Penguin shot the bayonet out of his umbrella and held it to the boy's throat, "Now, now,' he said, 'there may be code of honor among your people here, however we are the type who are not so cordial."

He then grabbed Ame by the lapel and drug him out and forced him to his feet. It was a little bit of a challenge for the narcotic was hindering the strength of his muscles.

However, once having that freedom granted to him, he shoved the stubby man away with a shoulder check but was quickly thwarted by Dent who grabbed his collar and threw him into the table while holding the .45 to his forehead.

"Come to think of it,' sneered Dent, 'We already have what we need from you, maybe We should flip the coin to see if keeping you around is what We should do."

Ame's heart jumped as the the fifty cent piece was flung into the air. It was as if time stood still in the mind of the lad as the small silver disc was about to determine his fate.

It was then, when Dent's palm was about to intercept it, all the lights went out with a thud, leaving everyone within the warehouse in the dark. There was an intense shudder pulsing throughout the group, it astonished Ame the most to see Two-Face and Penguin suddenly become more on edge as they were.

"He's here…." growled Two-Face in a subtle tone.

"….who….?" inquired Ame with great confusion.

Dent shot back without even looking, "Keep quiet!' then pointing to one of his goons, 'Get the lights back on now!"

Nodding, the henchmen made his way to the breaker but was stilled when a loud clamor bellowed throughout the warehouse which sounded much like a human body hitting something hard and not recovering.

He raised up his firearm with one hand and supported it with another which had a flashlight while calling out, "Axe? You okay?"

No response…..

With his palms sweating he made his way to his comrades last known location. When the light was placed there, all he saw was a crumbled figure on the ground next to a few broken pallets. Glancing around and overcome with anxiety the goon began to pace around nervously in search of the culprit.

Then in absolute hysteria, he looked up and screamed at the brisk sight of a winged monster swooping down for him.

Two-Face heard it clearly and demanded of another, "Get over there and find out what the hell is going on! And take someone with you!"

With agitated compliance three more went to investigate. When they had arrived at the source of the commotion, they found the same scene of the unconscious figure, however, dangling from the ceiling was the other henchmen who was tethered and strung up by his ankles from the rafters.

"How'd you get up there!" cried one.

Frantically thrashing about, he returned, "The Freaking Bat!"

One went pale and paced about, "Oh crap, we are so dead!"

The more hardened of the two nudged him and rebuked, "Just shut up and stick together and take this freak down!"

The petrified trio moved around cautiously in the dark with eyes jumping at every movement that could be interpreted as a lurking threat.

Ame was fighting the urge to transform for any detection by the collar of his human side being altered would give him a series of painful shocks. However he knew there were alternatives in preserving his well being. When seeing Two-Face and Penguin distracted with their backs turned, he took his chance and made a run for it.

Cobblept grabbed hold of his shirt and sneered, "Where do you think you're going?"

However, the boy bit his hand to free him of the grip and continued his flight in which Two-Face fired a few rounds at him but could not hit his target. This only infuriated the deformed villain further and had his voice bellow throughout the warehouse to find the boy.

Ame ran past the three goons pacing about in which one saw him and bolted for him. The lad tried at best to flee from his pursuers, however the sedative in his veins prevented his might to be exercised to its fullest.

Despite this retardation of physical strength, Ame did not need to outrun the gangster chasing him, for when he looked back, he saw his pursuer being aggressively intercepted by an invisible force that pulled him off into the darkness never to be seen again.

This did nothing to relieve the boy of his intensity for he had not the slightest idea other than that there was another specter lurking about. He hid behind a nearby crate and peeked over the other side to see what was transpiring, however to no avail, for the scene was nothing but a panorama of black.

Though he could see nothing, what he heard put a clear picture in his mind.

One henchmen's voice echoed out, "Get down I got him!"

A few gunshots thundered throughout the air and all was silent after that.

Whoever this mysterious stalker was in the mind of the boy, did not seem to have perished, for there were no additional voices heard which could only mean that the remaining henchmen were not victorious.

Ame carefully moved his way around the crate and began to search for any means to escape the area. The deathly silence did nothing for his nerves as he made his way through the labyrinth of crates and pallets within the depths of an endless black.

He cursed silently, for his animal half had the ability to see through the obscurity and darkness, however that ability would be punished by the collar if used. It was then in the depth of these thoughts that he had his shoulder seized upon and thrust into metal shelf.

The tyrannical schizophrenic Two-Face had found the boy and now threatened him with his life with a gun to his forehead. Ame began to panic at the sensation of cold, hard steel pressing into his skull as Dent hissed, "Looks like your luck has run out!"

It was then in this paralyzing moment of imminent doom that Two-Face's body was pulled back which removed the pressure of the gun's barrel from Ame's forehead. The next thing the boy saw was Dent being thrust head first into a crate with enough force for his cranium to burst the integrity of the wood. Dent's body sunk down while still being supported by his neck in the hole his face created in which he ceased moving.

Ame's eyes widened and trembled at the being responsible for his rescue. A dark and brooding embodiment of vengeance in the form of a white eyed demon. Ame began to back away slowly as the figure faced him.

"Get down!"

Before Ame could react the figure was upon him and holding him to the ground behind a shelf as a bolt shot right through the area he was standing.

Penguin, who was lurking about, was ejecting live rounds out of his umbrella towards the boy. Batman forced Ame still and said with strong force, "Stay here and don't move."

At a loss for words, Ame suddenly found himself alone with Penguin checking corners while calling out, "Tis a shame Batman, that you came all this way over the pacific just to meet your end!"

Ame quivered some as Cobblepot was moving closer to his position. He peered around the corner to see the chubby man gaining ground to were he was hiding and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Ame warred off the instructions to hold still and began to crawl away, however in the darkness he did not see where his hands were landing and caught a chain that drug on the ground making a loud shrill behind him. He looked back and saw Penguin standing behind him with his cigar lighting a paltry sum of his chin and nose.

With a laugh that puffed out a cloud of smoke from his teeth, Cobblepot took aim in which Ame staggered back but could not clear the line of fire in time.

Then, out of nowhere, Batman dropped behind the villain and picked him up with both hands over his head. The little tyrant squawked and shrieked while squirming and kicking for liberty before being slammed into a nest of pallets that gashed into pieces upon impact.

Penguin coughed and writhed in pain while he was disarmed and tied up by the dark knight before setting his attention on Ame. He attempted to run at the sight of the oncoming presence but was stopped by his hands.

"What do you want from me!?" he yelled while fighting back.

Batman held him down and ordered impatiently, "Hold still!"

He then withdrew few tools from his utility belt and began to tamper with the collar around Ame's neck. With a few clicks and cuts the boy found the shock collar free from his neck.

Batman arose and switched on his comms unit, "Nightwing I have the boy how are things on your end?"

Graysons distressed voice could be heard on the other end, "Not a good time to talk, the Yakuza just showed up."

Batman was quick to return, "Don't worry, I'll…"

His words were cut off when pounced upon by an aggressive force. Ame had transformed and turned his fear and anger on the caped crusader which left Batman fighting and pushing back.

Ame's jaws bit into Batman's gauntlets and biceps, were it not for the kevlar weave and gel layers in his suit, blood would have been drawn. Eventually Batman pushed the vehement wolf up just enough to pull out a syringe and stick it in his neck. With a yelp the wolf retreated in which the dark knight kipped up and chased after him.

"Nightwing hold them off Ame's escaping!" he radio'd.

"Not making any promises!" returned Grayson.

On the outside of the warehouse Nightwing and Robin were contending fiercely with the combined forces of Penguin and Two-Face. Just off the dock were black vehicles pulling up in which the Yakuza were exiting and approaching the conflict.

After dodging a few strikes and countering one of the henchmen, Dick said to himself with a plea, "C'mon Bruce hurry it up!"

Robin was paired up against three and taking quite a thrashing but still holding his own however he could not help but notice that the Yakuza only circled the yard but did not advance, then a pair of flood lights came on overhead that blinded all within its radius. The source came from a helicopter that was circling overhead.

The duel was at a stand still with every man putting his attention on the disturbance. Then approaching the scene was Kawaguchi who confronted the entirety of the group.

"Gentlemen we have come here for the boy and the samples, hand them over to us and this may end more favorably for you."

"Not gonna happen chief." said Nightwing while squinting and barring his eyes with his forearms.

A gravely voice then bellowed from behind, "What makes you think we'll just hand them over to you?!" It was Two-Face who had recovered and came outside to investigate the disturbance.

"This area has been compromised Mr. Dent' said Kawaguchi, 'your little vermin have interfered with our operations in which you were responsible for securing. You have failed in doing so, therefore we will have to take care of this personally."

At this point, Ame had exited out the back and slowly made his way around the side to see what was happening. He struggled keeping his eyes open due to the remedy the syringe had pumped into his veins.

Two-Face held up a suitcase that had the samples inside, "What makes you think We won't just throw these into the ocean?"

Suddenly Nightwing spoke up, "Hey in case you haven't noticed we were in the middle of a fight, do you want us to leave and come back when you've sorted all of this out?"

Two-Face snarled at him, "You can go to hell for all I care!"

Kawaguchi then readdressed him, "Play your cards wrong and you won't be too far behind."

Sirens could be heard off in the distance which indicated that the police were closing in. It was not long before the horizon was lined with flashing lights with officers getting out and drawing their weapons on the citizens of gotham.

"You see Mr. Dent' smiled Kawaguchi with confident pleasure, 'we run and dominate Tokyo in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Your pathetic power struggles in that little cesspit of a city are mere child's play compared to our dominion."

Ame was slowly making his way around while staying haunched on all fours to avoid detection.

Nightwing nudged Robin and motioned with his eyes to look down into his palm in which he saw him holding a smoke pellet. Tim queued in and slowly pulled one of his own out and waited for the time to use it.

Kawaguchi then changed his face to a more sincere promise, "If you cooperate with us, Giro has promised that you will be returned home, free of consequence and compensated for your troubles."

Two-Face smirked, "You mean the 100 million that he promised all of us?"

Kawaguchi then realized that Dent had discovered the fraud, but before he could respond, Two-Face raised his gun and fired one shot without mercy. The bullet traveled and hit Kawaguchi between the eyes in which he fell back with a thud and expired.

Dick and Tim saw their opportunity and threw down their smoke pellets to obscure the line of fire and quickly bolted away as the police opened fire. Dent called out to the rest of the goons to get inside the warehouse were the weapons were so they could defend themselves. The scene was filled with smoke, bullets and fallen bodies as Nightwing and Robin made their escape.

Ame found himself out in the open with the barrage of projectiles shooting off in all directions. However Batman arrived and dove through the air and tackled him behind a metal container to keep him safe.

"Nightwing, Robin, regroup at my position!" he yelled.

Ame was not moving nor fighting, for he was once again sedated which proved for the better seeing how he was overwhelmed enough as it was. Batman was reunited with his two partners and they quickly devised a plan.

"Oh good you have the boy, now what?" panted Robin.

Nightwing interjected, "We're half way there, Dent has the Samples for Freeze to keep working on the serum. Plus Two-Face just capped a Yakuza in the face we're going to have a war in Tokyo."

"One thing at a time!" cut in Batman.

He then began to type in a few commands on his gauntlet and addressed, "This area is too hot we need to get him back to the plane, get ready to move."

Nightwing then slapped Robin on the shoulder, "C'mon we'll double back and meet you at HQ."

The two departed while remaining under cover from gunfire while Batman awaited patiently. The area was becoming a war zone as the goons of Two-Face and Penguin got their hands on their own weapons and began to fire back from windows and partially opened doors.

There was a loud cry coming from the Yakuza's line as a the blustering sound of an engine followed by crashing metal broke through the bombardment as the Bat-mobile broke through the line and pulled up next to the metal container Batman was concealing himself behind. He placed Ame inside and vaulted in while being shot at. Soon after the vehicle shot out of the docks leaving the war raging behind it.

* * *

Under the starry night in which the field were the C-5 was parked the Batmobile and two motorcycles could be found rolling up to it. Nightwing and Robin were the first ones to roll up and carefully navigate through the equipment and other advanced machinery.

Yuki, who was meandering about, moved out of the way and watched with some excitement as the the motorcycles were brought to park before their unanimous idle was brought to a stop.

She approached them with eager haste and asked of Robin, "Did you find Ame? Is he safe?"

Nodding with an appeasing smolder, Tim responded, "Yeah, don't worry he's with us."

Their attention was caught off guard when the Batmobile pulled in rather aggressively with the dark knight vaulting out with aggression. Something was wrong.

"Nightwing set up the medical table now!" ordered Batman with urgency.

He then pulled Ame out who looked rather pale with discolored lips. Nightwing did as he was told and soon after the lad was placed on the table.

"What's wrong?" inquired Grayson.

Batman then began to set up an IV, "Tranquilizer overdose, it's slowing his cardio and pulmonary systems and left him in a coma." He then inserted the IV into his arm.

"Should we administer ipecac?" returned Dick.

"No it's already in his blood stream, we need charcoal."

Robin then rushed over to the medical supplies, "Got it!" He then tossed it over to the two in which it was intercepted.

"Wait, what's going on?" said the nervous Yuki.

Nightwing spoke up, "Your brother has been hit with too much sedative…he's going into shock and his systems may be shutting down."

"That means….?"

"He may be dying."

Yuki went hysterical and ran over to the table and wrapped her arms around her brother, "NO AME! I lOVE YOU, DON'T DIE! PLEASE MAKE HIM BETTER I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Batman then snapped at Tim, "Robin get her in the upper deck."

Drake grabbed hold of while she kicking and fighting to break free as she watched Batman and Nightwing lift Ame's head back and poor the thick black, tar like substance down his throat.

Robin got Yuki up into the crew quarters and got the door shut and locked with her going frantic in fear of losing that which was most precious to her. All she could do now was to sit on the bed and wait in agony of what the future may bring.

…

Meanwhile in the thicket of Tokyo were the hospital was, Hana was laying in her bed and watching the television mounted in the corner.

She was scarcely paying attention until a news report flashed on that caught her eye.

_"We interrupt your program for a Tokyo news alert." _Started the anchor.

_"A firefight has just broken out at the ocean master's harbor on the east docks. Though unconfirmed at the moment on casualties the police have been able to identify and confirm at the moment that at least two of the men responsible are Harvey Dent and Chester Oswald Cobblepot who have vanished from Gotham city almost a week ago. The NPA would like to call for a state of emergency for all of Tokyo's citizens until they can apprehend the culprits and any others who may have come overseas…"_

Hanna put her hand to her mouth as it was recalled to her the report on the missing criminals a few days prior. Her thoughts were interrupted when a doctor and a nurse came in with some medical remedies to treat her.

The last thing she caught on the news report was one anchor commenting almost to himself, _"The NPA was able to confirm this so soon?"_

The nurse was humming along with a rather ditzy attitude while the doctor, who was wearing a surgeons mask was filling up a syringe.

"Can you believe that?" she said to the staff, "I can't believe that city would just allow it's criminals to come over here and cause trouble for us."

There was no response.

Hana could not help but remember the visitation she had from Batman the night before and only wished that he may prove successful in his promise.

Being overcome with negativity, Hana went on, "I'm so worried, I'm in pain, I don't know where my children are and now there's a war going on, I don't know what to do…"

The doctor then approached her and said with a crackly voice, "Well in times like this, I always think to myself…"

Hana panicked for she knew well that heinous sound. The doctor pulled down his mask revealing the white face and blood red lips of the Joker who moved in with the syringe and continued, "…Laughter is the best medicine!"


	16. The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 14**

**The Calm Before the Storm**

The light of the early morning sun dawned over the plains of the air field and gave brightness through the porthole of Yuki's sleeping quarters. However she was already awake, in fact she had not slept at all the previous night hours. She had been spending most of that time alternating positions between pacing about aimlessly or sitting on the bed with her head in her hands and restlessly tapping her foot. The cause of this behavior was none other than the unrelenting concern for her brother who may or may not be still breathing in this hour.

She attempted to open the hatch however it was locked from the other side. This only fueled her anxiety in regards to her brother's well being in which she began to knock loudly and calling out to gain the attention of anyone who lay dwelling on the other side. After a few moments a loud buzz pierced the silence in which Yuki jumped with a start before the metal beam that held the door shut slid open. With the way clear, she quickly pulled the hatch open and made haste to the immense hallow of the fuselage.

There down below she found Ame laying on the medical table, his chest moving up and down with a sizable portion of color returned to his flesh. Quickly she approached him and began to call his name while shaking him gently to get him removed from his slumber.

"He'll wake up eventually." came the voice of Robin from behind.

She turned to see Tim walking up in full garb save his mask, cape and utility belt. Responding back to him, Yuki inquired, "How long until then?"

Drake shrugged, "I'd say give him another hour or so. Right now we've got most the sedative out of his system, now we just have to wait out the rest."

Yuki nodded and breathed a sigh of relief then looked out the porthole and noticed the absence of the black Toyota. "Did your boss leave or something?"

Tim paced around with his arms folded and said, "They'll both be back. Hey you hungry?"

Yuki nodded in which Robin went to a metal crate and withdrew two MRE's. He then put a kettle of water on the stove and awaited the hour in which it would steam. As they awaited in silence Yuki decided to appease her curiosity, "So I've heard that Gotham has ninja's or something that helps the police fight crime. Are you one of them?"

Tim nodded and said, "We prefer vigilante over ninja but it's close enough."

"So how come the police don't arrest you, isn't what you're doing illegal?" she asked.

The face Drake softened and focused in on a profound remorse before saying, "Because that city needs all the help it can get."

Yuki twiddled her thumbs then made another inquiry, "So are there tryouts to be a Gotham ninja? Or how did you get hired by Batman?"

Tim smirked, "I didn't get hired, I got drafted. And he's more my warden than my boss."

She tilted her head and rejoined, "So how did you become Robin?"

Tim smiled and angled his head down and replied, "It all started when I was really little and my parents took me to the circus."

…

"Let me assure you that the National Police Agency is doing everything within it's power to ensure that the people of Tokyo are safe and in good hands, and will not let our proud citizens fall pray to these foreign criminals!"

The man giving this statement began to walk through the hordes of reporters and flashing camera's with multiple voices calling out, "Chief Sitoshi is it true that the Yakuza are involved?" and, "Sitoshi-san do you feel that there is a connection between this and the donations given by Bruce Wayne earlier?"

One was even as bold as to say, "Chief Sitoshi, can you confirm that the Gotham man bat is here in Tokyo as well?"

Making his way to his car the overwhelmed police chief could only say, "No more questions at this time please!"

Among the thronging groups of reporters and news anchors was one who was still, wearing a black hoodie with sunglasses. His hands were in his pockets and he casually walked away from the excited crowd and across the street to where another individual was standing while observing the current events.

He had a large shoulder span with a beanie atop his head and a brown beard around his jaw. The individual in the hoodie approached him and said with a jest, "Y'know just because we're in disguise Bruce, doesn't mean we won't be spotted as American."

The disguised Bruce Wayne paid no heed to the comment and asked, "Did you plant the bug Dick?"

Grayson smiled with an eyebrow lifted and handed Bruce a transmitter which displayed a homing beacon then said, "It doesn't feel right Bruce, spying on one of Tokyo's top police agencies."

Wayne leaned forward and replied with his dismal surety, "The NPA and Yakuza are working together, I fear that Sitoshi might be involved somehow."

"You think he's working with Giro?" asked Dick with some surprise.

"Someone has been covering tracks and it can only come from the top of the police agency. At this point everyone is a suspect." replied Wayne as he began walking away.

Following after him, Grayson asked, "You really think so?"

"Think about it Dick,' started Bruce, 'Joker kidnaps two children and the mother is the one put under suspicion then the case file disappears and there is no mention or any kind of search for the children. Gotham's worst are doing the dirty work for the Yakuza and the police target them instead of their own local gang despite the public acknowledgment of their involvement. This can't be just a few renegade officers, this whole department in this section have to be in on it."

"Well at least the kids are safe right?" said Grayson as they approached their vehicle.

As Bruce got into the driver's side he replied coldly, "But the people of Tokyo are not. Two face just killed Giro's right hand man. There is going to be a war and we have to stop it and bring Giro to justice."

"But at least we know where Two-Face, Penguin and Freeze are."

Bruce then turned the engine over, "Yes but where's Joker been this whole time?"

Dick's face went a little pale when realizing they had yet to encounter the clown prince of crime during this whole venture in Japan. The vehicle then drove off down the congested streets and around the corner.

...

As the dynamic duo were navigating back to their headquarters there was another individual within a disclosed location who was furiously walking about. It was Victor Fries who seemed to be impatiently awaiting a certain hour. The door suddenly opened which let light into the dark chamber followed by the silhouettes of a tall and a stubby man.

"You had better have good reason from pulling me from my work." said Freeze to his two guests.

The voice of Two-Face cut through the air, "I suppose you enjoy working for free?"

The eyebrows above the red goggles cringed while Penguin took a moment to clarify, "What he means is that your work will go unrewarded, we have just found out that Giro intended for us to be puppets in his little scheme and will be left hanging out to dry when it is all said and done."

Freeze looked doubting then replied, "Bring me Kawaguchi."

"He's dead." snarled Dent with little remorse to the life he had taken the night before.

"What is your plan now?" asked the ice man with more reason.

Penguin chimed in, "Simple, you continue on that serum and we'll force Giro to pay for it."

"Black mailing the Yakuza?' said Freeze with astonishment, 'Have you any idea how ludicrous that sounds?"

Two-Face growled back, "Think of your little doll in that ice tube. You either take some chance with us, or no chance with Giro."

Freeze gritted his teeth, "Very well then! However there is an issue. As I have said before I cannot complete the serum without a chromosome only found within a female donor. Without Yuki there is no chance of completing it."

Two-Face spited, "The Bat has her and who knows where the hell he has her locked up."

It was then that a fourth and unsettling voice intercepted the conversation, "Awww, the three of you are having a party and I wasn't invited ."

They looked in the direction of the doorway to see Joker leaned against the frame while grinning heinously at the trio. "Don't any of you remember that I had plan, but did any of you listen or care?" he whined.

"If we did we would've involved you sooner." said Dent.

Penguin rolled his eyes and interjected, "It matters little at this point, because that infernal bat monstrosity has the boy as well."

"Then all hope is lost." came the frigid conclusion of Mr. Freeze.

Joker came forward and said with a smile as big as ever, "Good, that means double the fun!"

"What's _your_ plan of getting them back!?" yelled Two-Face.

"Funny you should ask. Let's just say I cooked up some special bait for our little puppies to come crawling back to us."

"And that is?"

The clown clapped his hands in which Harley dragged in Hana with duck tape around her mouth and her hands bound behind her back. Joker walked up to the individual and lifted her head up by the scalp, "Here's the plan my little snow angel! Our doggies have run away and we oh so dearly want them to come back to us! And Mommy's going to help!"

…

Meanwhile as these events were unfolding, Yuki and Tim were sitting in the C-5 enjoying their meals. Tim had decided to use the computer monitor to watch the local news and managed to catch the speech given by Chief Sitoshi.

"Barb you watching this?" asked Tim of Oracle to see if she was connected.

After a moment she replied, "Yes, unfortunately. You guys better get things under control and fast. The city looks like it's on the verge of erupting."

"Like fuji in Tokyo!" jested Robin who received a slight scoff from Yuki at the bad joke.

The girl however felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and asked timidly, "Is it because of me and Ame?"

Robin peered at her and asked shockingly, "No, of course not. Why would you think that?"

Yuki shrugged, "The bad people want us, because of what we can do. We've always caused trouble because of our abilities. Our Mom had to move far away and give up on her dreams to raise us, I almost got kicked out of school because I hurt a boy in which my mom was going to be responsible. And now….this happens."

Tim turned to face her, "Hey…' she looked up into his eyes, 'None of this was your fault, it was ours. We're supposed to keep these guys locked up and off the streets in Gotham, we blundered big time. Plus, never think for a moment that your mother regretted the choices she made to keep you safe. She made the sacrifices because she loves you, not because you would be a burden to her."

Yuki's eyes shimmered, "You mean it?"

"Of course I do."

It was then that there was a grunt coming from behind them, as they turned Yuki's face lit up to see Ame was sitting upright and looking around. Rushing to him she proclaimed, "Ame, you're ok!"

She wrapped her hands around him while he was suffering from a plethora of confusions and deliriums. The most he could say in his lethargy was, "Where am I?"

"You're safe now! Don't worry." reassured Yuki.

Looking past her and seeing Tim still dressed in his suit, he immediately recognized him, "Wait, you're one of those guys who were getting shot at last night."

Tim shrugged, "Occupational hazard." he said.

Ame rubbed his scalp, "I'm trying to remember. There was that ugly guy and the small one and then….that monster looking one. He looked like a…a…."

"Bat?" finished Yuki.

"No…like a devil."

Tim gave a lighthearted comment, "Unfortunately he's a little less make believe than that."

Ame gave a distrusting look back at him, "And who or what are you exactly….?"

"We've been called many things." replied Tim.

Yuki quickly corrected, "They go by the names; Batman, Nightwing and this is Robin."

Tilting and eyebrow, the boy asked, "So what's with the get up?"

"Ame!" recoiled his sister.

Drake shrugged, "If you prefer to be back with Penguin, I'm sure I can drop you off somewhere."

Ame was about to respond until Oracle called Robin over, "Tim, you better take a look at this."

He excused himself to the computer while Yuki prepared some food for her brother while explaining the entire situation. As Drake got to the computer he could see that Oracle had already highlighted a file and bade him to open it. He had done so only to find that recording of Chief Sitoshi addressing the press before pushing through the crowds.

"Pay close attention to :30-:55." instructed Barbara.

Tim's eyes lightened and cringed within the same movement as he saw what Oracle intended for him to see.

"What's Dick doing spying on the police agency?" said he when recognizing Grayson in the hoodie and sunglasses among the crowd.  
"You know it wasn't his idea." returned Oracle.

Robin bowed his head, "He really thinks that the crooked cops are taking orders from the top?"

"It goes without saying." started Barbara, "I mean the case files did disappear on the amber alert. Are Yuki and Ame safe?"

Robin turned back to look at them and smiled, "Yeah, we got them here. But we're going to have bigger problems."

"What do you mean?"

"Two-face killed one of the second in command of the Yakuza last night."

"He did what? Weren't they working together?"

"Supposedly there's been a falling out. Two-Face mentioned something about money being owed to him before popping him between the eyes."

Oracle sighed, "Batman had a feeling something like this might happen. The first shot has been fired and many more are to come."

"Don't worry, we're here."

"Please Tim, don't try to downplay this situation."

Robin then assertively voiced back, "You're right. In all honesty I don't think this Giro guy to be the whole mastermind."

"What do you mean?"

"The one thing that doesn't make sense, is why Giro would seek help from Gotham's underworld. I mean Japan isn't known for their love of foreigners per se. All I'm saying is that someone had to have put him up to this."

There was a brief pause on Barb's end. Then after the recess she stated coldly, "Maybe it's someone from Gotham who contacted the Yakuza to create mayhem."

Tim assented, "My money's on Joker. He's the one who kidnapped the kids, and he's also the one who led Batman here. Finally, we've encountered Freeze, Cobblepot and Dent so far, but the funnyman has been absent."

Barbara quickly returned with astounded horror, "If that's true then it's the biggest stunt Joker's ever pulled."

Then out of nowhere Bruce's voice came through, "I'll put a stop to it the same."

Oracle sighed, "A woman doesn't like having her conversations eve dropped on."

Bruce darkly responded, "I noticed there was communication on the bat computer and accessed the live feed remotely. I heard everything."

"HI, BARB!" came Dick's loud voice.

"What the hell are you two doing?" demanded Oracle.

"We're in the same car and have you on intercom." replied Bruce, "Robin, we're going to be back in ten minutes, get Yuki and Ame upstairs before then. We have a lot to talk about."

Tim grinned, "Ame's fine by the way…he's awake."

There was an awkward pause that followed.

"Don't get too emotional." finished Robin.

"We'll be there soon." said Bruce before cutting communications.

Tim then turned around with an even face to see the siblings gawking at him.

"So, who was that?" asked Ame.

Drake shook his head, "The man who's going to get you back to your mother. But until then, you heard the man, I need you to go up to the crew quarters now."

Very reluctantly did the brother and sister recede from view up the steps and into the cockpit area. Ame was the most irate of the two as he murmured, "They shouldn't keep us out of the loop. I think we deserve to know what they're up to."

Yuki attempted to cool his nerves, "I know it seems unfair but they really do mean well, I mean they got us here didn't they?"

"And what about the guys who did this to our family? Are they just going to take them back to Gotham and call it good? I think this involves us more than anyone."

Yuki sighed, "Not really. I mean they did their part on rescuing us, but this really is their battle."

"What about that clown?!"

"Ame!"

"He hurt Mom, he hurt you, he hurt us! If I ever get the chance…it'll be the end of him!"

Yuki was slightly stunned at her brother's rage then beckoned, "I know you're not a killer, don't start thinking like one please!"

Her brother then sat on the bed and hid his eyes with his hair, "I just hate being the helpless one all the time."

She sat next to him, "There's no shame in ever needing help from someone else." she cooed.

He could only look up to her slightly and could not think of any words to express his feelings from that point on. Therefore he chose to lay down and wait.

It was only a matter of time after then that they felt the loading bay open and could hear talking. It was too muffled for their ears as they were so Ame allowed his features to change slightly so that he may have access to his wolf hearing with Yuki doing likewise so that hey could listen.

"What have you found out?" asked Robin of Grayson and Wayne.

"It's just as we feared." returned Bruce, "The NPA's highest authority is assisting the Yakuza."

"How can you be sure?" replied Tim.

Dick stepped up, "When listening in and tracking Sitoshi's movements we could hear him making plans with a Yakuza while his tracker showed him somewhere in a warehouse on the outskirts of Tokyo. We could only assume it was Giro he was talking to."

Tim nodded, "What do you think of the theory that Joker could have behind all of this?"

Bruce went to the computer and began pulling up case files, "It may not be that farfetched. When Arkham and Black-gate security were hacked, Barbara was able to trace the source to a code that she cross referenced with the NPA's software, turns out it was a match. While Yuki and Ame were asleep last night, me and Oracle began to run calibrations on their communications from over a week ago."

"In a nutshell please." begged Grayson.

Bruce ignored him, "We were able to isolate a decrypted message that went to Sitoshi just before the break out. Though we couldn't decipher what the message contained exactly there were a series of codes that matched Arkham and Black-Gates' security systems to submit an override."

"Only someone in Gotham and a local at those places could have known that." concurred Tim.

"Exactly,' continued Bruce, 'The connection is that this message was sent to the Yakuza just before the break out happened. This leads me to believe that someone on our end is planning to double cross them."

"What makes you say that?"

"Think about it Robin. Let's say someone wanted control of Gotham, they would need their biggest crime lords out of the way. With them gone he would have full reign over Gotham's underground. To cover his tracks he would have to get someone else involved to do his dirty work. Someone to convince the six of them to come over here and eventually kill them off. Someone like the Yakuza."

"Then to cut ends with Japan, he frames them for the break out with the codes he sent, in order to keep the investigation off Gotham." said Dick.

Tim was at loss for words for the moment, "There's someone else in Gotham who would need to have been taken care of as well. Us."

Bruce nodded, "That's why I'm suspecting Joker is behind all of this. Why else would he tell me where he went off to unless he knew I would follow."

"He cleaned Gotham out of anyone who could stand in his way." said Tim when realizing the entirety of the scheme. "But where does Yuki and Ame fit into all of this?"

Wayne furled his brow, "In order to pull this off, there had to be bait for everyone. For Gotham it was money to kidnap them and keep them contained for the time being, for the Yakuza it was to weaponize their abilities among their own. As for me, it was Joker's involvement to get me included."

"How do we fix this?" wondered Tim.

"We already have the upper hand." replied Wayne, "Without Yuki and Ame, everything gets put on a standstill, they were the keystone to this whole plot. Without them it crumbles. All that's left now is to round up the remaining criminals and submit an anonymous tip to other Japanese authorities that Sitoshi has been a conspirator. We can end this tonight."

"Ok then, where do we go from here?" asked Tim.

Bruce then pulled open a map of the city, "Listening in on their conversations it sounds like Harvey managed to contact the Yakuza and told them to meet in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, but we haven't discovered where yet."

"Why would Dent reach out to them after all of this?"

"He's either baiting them into a trap or may have found a way to strong arm them."

Dick rubbed his lips, "Let's pray it's the earlier."

Barbara's panicked voice suddenly bolted through with her demanding, "Bruce you need to see this now!"

The trio turned to face the computer as Oracle transferred them a live feed of a news report with the headline reading, _Breaking news, Gotham clown crook has taken a hostage._

The reporter onscreen then began to annotate aloud, "This just in, it appears that Gotham's most notorious criminal known as the Joker has been confirmed to be here in Tokyo. Though his demands are unknown at the moment he apparently has taken a hostage and now we are waiting while police are frantically attempting to get the situation under control."

Bruce scowled, "Joker's made his move."

"But what does one hostage get him?" asked Barbara.

"I have no idea…"

It was then that the anchor seemed to be getting a communication via his earpiece and said, "We are now getting reports that the Joker is making contact and is streaming a live video to us now."

The screen then split allowing the right side to have the live feed. All that could be seen were some moving colors and jittering movements as the camera was obviously being adjusted and focused. Once the chore was done, all of Tokyo could see the evil eyes and maniacal grin of Gotham's most unforgiving criminals.

Tapping the lens the clown said, "This thing on? Heeellllooo! Can anyone here me?"

Then zooming out and setting the camera on the tripod he said with relief, "That's better. AHEM!"

Then taking the poise and mannerism of a circus performer, Joker went off, "Greetings Tokyo! This is your new emperor Joker! My first order of decree is…." he paused then rolled his eyes.

"Hang on, that's the wrong opening, ha, ha! Anyway, I have been in your quaint little city for few nights and I must say that I've had a blast.' then pretending to mope, 'However, no party is the same without my pal and bestest buddy! Maybe you've seen him!"

He then held up to the lens a crude drawing of a stick man with a cape and cowl wearing bat ears. "I know you can hear me Batman and I know your out there somewhere in your own little makeshift cave. And I also know you have something that belongs to me…"

Bruce's eyebrows tinged as Joker straightened his posture then pronounced, "Oh hold on! Did I say 'belongs to me?' I meant, belongs to her!"

He snapped his fingers and the lights came on which it showed Hana behind him on her knees with her mouth gagged with a black cloth. She looked up and around in a panic while being surrounded with mountains of TNT.

Joker then set the focus on her and said, "Come find me tonight Batman, and bring your furry little friends with you. If you don't she dies!"

Then turning the camera back on him, Joker gave his final joke, "And everyone will know her kiddies little secret!"

He then put his two index fingers behind his head to mimic wolf ears and made an imitation howl, "Awwoooooooooo-ho-ho-ho-ho! He, he, he, hee, hee. HAAAAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The feed was then cut off.

The reporter, in absolute confusion and horror, said, "Folks I'm not sure who or what we have just witnessed…."

Bruce turned it off and stewed a moment.

Tim and Dick were slightly agitated while Barb asked, "What's our next step?"

"We find Joker and put a stop to this…" returned Wayne.

"We're coming with you." came the pressuring voice of Ame who had slipped downstairs when hearing the Joker's voice resonate throughout the empty chasms.

Bruce, who was still disguised, shot back, "No you're staying here." Then turning back to the computer, "Oracle get me the footage, I want to check something."

"Recording and sending it to you now." she affirmed.

Ame then rushed up, "Stay here? That psycho has our Mom, and you just want us to hang back while the two of you try to fix this mess?!"

Yuki had followed down and took her brother's side, "I know there is something we can do to help."

Bruce did not even turn around, he only was focusing in and relapsing the footage, "You can, you can stay here. If Joker gets his hands on you again, there's no telling what can happen. Don't worry, we'll save your mother."

Ame was becoming more aggressive, "You can't do this to us! Do even know what it feels like right now? To watch your own Mom in the hands of a monster and being unable to do anything about it? I doubt you can even…."

Suddenly, Wayne flipped around, put his hands on the boy's shoulders and peered right into his face, "I have watched everything and more happen to my family. You may be wolves but at the same time, you're just kids. Just like I was. And trust me, you can cause more damage if you try anything."

Yuki protested, "You can do more damage by not trying anything either!"

Ame aggressively broke free, "I'm not a kid!"  
Bruce turned to Drake and beckoned, "Tim."

He nodded and then directed the siblings to return upstairs. They were very reluctant and argued every step of the way. Yet after a few moments, Drake was able to succeed.

Once he got them to their room, Tim was about to leave when Yuki nearly yelled, "Why can't we help, can't you talk to him?"

Drake tried to calm them down, "Hold up now, he's only doing what's best, trust me."

"And why should we trust you or him?" demanded Yuki.

Tim then hardened his face, "Because there was another one of us who chose to do what you two wanted, and it didn't end well for him."

"Oh yeah, what was his name?" shot back Ame.

Tim lifted his eyebrows and said, "…Robin…"

Yuki was put off for she was a little confused to what he was truly meaning.

"I wasn't the first person who wore this suit." he finished before closing the door and walking back down into the cargo bay.

When he reunited with the other two he noticed Bruce zooming the footage on walls and crates in the back round and began scanning various symbols and began to upload photos to Oracle and stating, "Barbara run a cross reference on these symbols, they may help identify where Joker is held up."

"On it." she affirmed.

Bruce did the same on his end but was more selective in his search for specific destinations. Eventually he informed, "Barb, I found it."

"Go ahead, shoot."

"This symbol is a clown coming out of a jack in the box. It was the mascot of an old toy factory within the Shibuya district that had been shut down and abandoned long ago. That's where Joker is."

"What about Yuki and Ame?" asked Barb.

"They're not going anywhere."

"Alright so when do the three of you make your move?'

Bruce quickly corrected, "Two of us. Robin is staying here."

"For real?" moaned Tim.

Bruce turned, "I need someone to watch over our guests, make sure they don't try anything."

"Fine, I'll do baby sitter duty." whined Drake in return.

Bruce seemed satisfied with his compliance and said to Dick, "Rest up; Hana, Two-Face, Giro, we have a long night ahead of us."

"When do we leave?" asked Grayson.

"Sundown."

…

As the evening sun was beginning to level out with the horizon we see Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne gearing up for their next night time venture. Bruce still had his cowl down as he walked up to the computer and began punching in the coordinates while Grayson was checking the motorcycle.

Robin sat there without his mask or cape and looked rather dejected. He had a poor history about being the odd man out with Batman and Nightwing, however he knew better than to doubt Bruce's judgement.

Bruce eventually pulled over his cowl and let drop the loading dock and opened the awning to the Bat-Mobile. Nightwing mounted the BMW and fired up the engine, soon after both vehicles were rolling out.

Before they departed, Tim ran out to Dick and yelled over the engines, "Have fun out there you luck son of gun!"

Grayson nodded and said, "Keep Yuki and Ame safe alright?"

"Got it!"

Tim then stepped back as the Bat mobile and the motorcycle spun out and exited with rapid haste towards Tokyo. Robin watched for a moment and envied the venture he was to be absent on. He stayed outside for a few minutes and admired the shogun scenery before finally walking back into the C-5 and shutting the loading ramp.

The hour was about half past five o' clock when he decided to pull out a few more MRE's and yelled to the siblings upstairs.

"Hey you guys hungry?"

There was no response in which Tim sighed, "Look don't give me the silent treatment, it wasn't me who wanted you to stay here!"

The lack of noise was very unsettling so he decided to go up the stairs to the crew quarters.

He knocked on their door and said, "Hey I'm coming in."

The door swung ajar and when Tim saw the room he moaned with unbearable dread, "Oh no…."

He bolted back down to the computer and got on the comms with Oracle.

"Barb we have a problem!"  
"What's up?"

"Yuki and Ame are gone!"


	17. Joke's on You

**AN: I know it's been a while since I updated but here we are! I just wanted to point out that I'd like to thank those who have read and followed the story thus far, can you believe it's been a year since I posted it? Also I just want to say how amazed I am that I have 7 favs and 10 followers! The reason for this is I did not think that this story was going to develop this kind of following, in fact I thought it would get maybe 2 fav 3 follow because it's a cross over, and a bit of an unusual one at that. But for those who have stuck with me and supported me I give you my thanks and appreciation and enjoy the newest chapter :)**

**Also some fun random news, DC's new Animated Film 'The killing Joke' comes out this month on July 25th who's excited?**

**Also news has reached me that the Return to Arkham video game remaster of Arkham Asylum and City has been pushed back in which I'm disappointed but also relieved. This will help increase the quality of the game. The graphics did look better in some areas, but not that much better, and some shots actually looked worse than the original. No release date in sight but hopefully we'll see it soon and it'll be awesome!**

**And one last thing Dunno why Im bringing it up, but I went to the bookstore today to get the Hobbit and Lord of the rings books to read and there I saw that Jk Rowling is continuing the Harry Potter franchise, 'The cursed Child' is the name and it's set for July 31st. I only bring this up because Harry potter is quite popular in the Fanfiction world. **

**Well anyway...**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Joke's on You**

Through the foliage and thick underbrushes of Japan's shogun landscape, two wolves darted through it's terain, persisting ever onwards towards Tokyo. It was none other than Yuki and Ame who unbeknownst to our gotham vigilante's at the time, had already had a sizable head start for the sun was just beginning to set. It should be noted for the reader that their escape from the C-5 was much earlier than their disappearance was detected.

During the commute Yuki was beginning to show signs of weakness as her stride began to suffer and fall short of Ame's transit. He turned back to see his sister gimping with a notable red streak running down her shoulder.

"Are you alright, what happened?" he asked.

"My stitches,' she said, in reference to the injury given to her by Croc, 'they pulled out."

Looking back to their destined horizon Ame encouraged, "C'mon it's not too far once we make it into the Shibuya district we'll be able to get mom out."

"Ame I don't think this was such a good idea."

He huffed in disapproval, "What are you talking about?"

With more reason then doubt she said, "Do we really know what we're up against?You've seen what these guys can do. Why would the clown broadcast to Batman if he didn't have a plan?"

Ame shrugged, "He's planning for the man bat not wolves."

"We may be wolves, but we're also kids, all I'm saying is that we've never done something like this before."

Her brother was quick to rejoin, "Look the clown is a just a crazy person, we'll be fine."

Yuki then gave him an indescribable look that was equal in indifference, "Just because he's crazy, doesn't mean he's stupid."

There were no words in his vocabulary to refute that so he could only respond by stating, "C'mon let's go."

It was only a matter of moments before the wolves were on the outskirts of Tokyo in which they reverted back to their humanoid personas to wander through the Shibuya district. The inner workings of the city was nothing short of a maze for the siblings with it's spangled lights, congested streets and persistent intersections.

"Do you even know where we're going?" complained Yuki.

Ame shook his hair, "We just need to find the building with that toy symbol. I think if it belonged to an abandon building, we could try the more rundown sections of Shibuya."

"I really think we should have listened to those other guys."

Her brother quickly wheeled around and retorted, "They had their chance to get this right and they didn't!"

Yuki calmly approached her irate brother and said quietly, "I know this is difficult for us, but I have a feeling that this runs deeper for you than just getting Mom back."

He looked up slightly enough for one eye to peer through the part in his hair, "Do you know what Batman and those guys plan to do when they catch those foreign criminals? They're going to simply take them back and lock them up. When I was in that cage I could here them talking….a lot. Do you have any idea how many people they have killed? Hundreds; cops, families it doesn't matter they just do what they want and what justice do they get? Mercy?!"

Yuki evened out her complexion and looked more sternly than ever before, "You wanted to deliver justice the way you saw fit didn't you? This is more than about saving Mom, this is also about being judge and executioner."

Ame only gritted his teeth, it was the closest to an affirmation to her statement he would allow.

Yuki then pressed her hand to his cheek and stated, "You remember that big green monster?"

Ame nodded.

"When I was trying to get away from him Batman knocked him off the roof and then saved him. I asked him why he didn't let him fall and all he said was that it wasn't the way he did things and that Croc is an animal who should be in jail not underground."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that what separates us from animals is that we choose who we want to be and how we want to react."

He moved away from the reach of her hand and replied, "Yeah I know, you chose to be human, I chose to be a wolf and it's never set well with any of you!"

Yuki was stunned, "You think that because you chose to live as a wolf me and Mom thought less of you? We are fine with that because we know that choice would make you happy. Ame, what I'm saying here is that for us there is a difference between choosing to be a wolf or human and choosing to be an animal!"

He bowed his head, "Humans, animals, what's the difference?"

Yuki was quick to respond, "The difference is that humans still have hope of rising above and overcoming what they are. Animals stay the same forever."

Ame's head suddenly shot past her shoulder, "Hey look!"

She set her eyes abaft and saw a white van driving past the corner they were stepped on. It appeared to be the same white van they had been abducted in however there was one modification to the side panel that was not there before. The insignia for 'Jacko the Clown,' was replaced with the jack in the box symbol from the abandoned toy factory.

Ame began to run after it with Yuki trying to keep up. The vehicle was gaining too much speed so Ame, with reckless abandon, transformed to all fours to maintain the pursuit. This left Yuki with no other choice but to do likewise, which of course sent many people in a panicked frenzy.

Yuki called out to her brother to reconsider the means of their pursuit for it was not a common occurrence for a bystander in Tokyo to witness two wolves chase after a speeding van. Ame would neither heed nor let up the chase, he only barreled after the van in the same manner as any predator would gun down it's prey.

The van made a sharp turn in which the two wolves came around the same corner which led them through a dilapidated alley way then held off as the vehicle's momentum slowed as it's break lights came on. As the van was coming to a halt the two siblings concealed themselves behind a nearby dumpster and peered around the obstruction to see the driver get out, check his surroundings then enter the building.

"That has to be a worker for the clown." sneered Ame with resentment.

Yuki had a more questionable approach to his reasoning and asked, "How can you be sure."

Ame looked back to her with only one eye visible and said, "The driver didn't look Japanese."

He shifted back to his humanoid appearance and arose to enter when Yuki took hold of his shoulder and gave a gentle protest, "We don't know what's in there, this all so surreal."

"Not now Yuki." rebuked her brother.

Becoming more adamant she responded, "Ame listen to me! A foreigner driving a van with the toy symbol on it just so happens to pass by and it so happened to lead us right to the building were Mom is. And when he went in, he didn't even lock the door or anything. That doesn't seem strange to you?"

Ame relieved himself of her grip and gnashed his teeth, "The only thing I'm seeing as strange is that the only person keeping me from saving Mom is my own sister!"

She was hurt by his abrasive words as he then jogged down the alley to where the door was. She quickly followed but with much more caution, for she had sound logic to presume something was amiss. Together they entered the structure and into the unknown.

The interior of the abandoned toy factory was a typical layout when considering the profile. Old, empty boxes were scattered around rusty frames of forsaken machinery with pallets of wood in the corners. It was dark with the faint pallor of the moonlight bleeding through the skylights to give illumination to the environment.

If there were any acceptable place where a hostage could be found it would be the section designed for shipping and receiving. The siblings made a partial change to have access to their nocturnal eyes which allowed them to see in the dark much easier while their hearing was much more attuned. Carefully they navigated through the manufacturing depot and moved to shipping.

They moved through a giant bay door with thick, transparent plastic blinds that served to keep the air conditioning locked in. Once on the other side, Ame could see Hana on her knees with her head down while tied to one of the load bearing pillars in the center.

With a gasp of relief and excitement known only to a select few, Ame rushed to her. He put a hand on Hana's shoulders and began to gently shake her to gain her attention while Yuki joined in.

"Mom…mom…!" he said while doubling his efforts.

He then lifted up her head and saw the face of a rag doll with stitchings for eyes and mouth. The body was fake.

Suddenly lights slammed on followed by confetti shooting out of every corner of the room followed by sounds of party horns.

"SURPRISE!"

Through the shadows, lights and obscuring disorientation came the menacing grin of blood red lips accompanied by a purple suit through the back door to greet the bewildered wolf children.

From his suit jacket, Joker pulled out a gun and aimed it at Ame and said, "Miss me?"

Before he could react two prongs connected to copper wires shot out and imbedded themselves into Ame's chest while making a profound and rapid ticking sound. The boy's muscles seized up and he let out a yell as his stiffened body fell to the ground.

"I know, _shocking_ isn't it?" mocked Joker as he waived his hand forward in which a handful of henchmen surrounded Yuki with animal graspers in hand. She went to all fours to escape but yelped as her head slipped through the ring of the dog catcher pole which tightened around her neck and drove her into the ground.

"Oh goodie Mr. J, our guests of honor have arrived and now we can start the party!" shrilled Harley as she strode up to his side and caressed his lapel.

"Oh let's not get too ahead of ourselves my dear, we now have to make sure that our furry little packages will arrive safe and sound!" cackled the clown.

Ame recovered and pulled the prongs from his chest and arose and was about to make his move until Joker pulled a gun one him and taunted, "Ah ah! Don't make me put the doggy down."

Ame gritted his teeth, "Put me down and you have nothing. After all you need us both alive."

"Touché my boy!" applauded Joker, "Well played, couldn't have made a better comeback myself!"

"Where are you keeping our mom? Let her go!"

The clown's eyebrow raised inquisitively as he approached him, "You must be new to these kinds of ordeals. You see, normally you don't start asking questions and making demands unless you have the upper hand. Take if from an old pro who has done this countless times, you could learn a thing or two from someone like me!"

"I do have the upper hand,' corrected Ame, 'you still need me to complete whatever it is you're working on."

"And as far as I can tell I have you where I want you, unless you're crazy enough to fight your way out of here and die trying."

"I could do that,' said Ame darkly, 'I'd be able to take a few of you down with me."

Joker could not help but be amused and giggled, "You know something scamp? I like you, I really do! But I still have you beat because if you don't play nicely then, oh your poor dear mother will have to pay the price."

Ame went blank and considered it to be a bluff but chose not to take the risk and said in defeat and embarrassment, "Fine, the both of us will come with you, just let our mom go."

Joker slapped him on the back, "That's the spirit! Of course I may have told you a teeny, tiny little lie!"

Ame looked up at him with bewildered confusion.

"You see I forgot to mention I don't need you both,' then looking to Yuki, 'I only need her."

Before Ame could speak he was blunted in the side of the head with Joker's pistol, and rendered unconscious.

* * *

Two pairs of wolf tracks where dinted in the sod around the C-5 that Robin was tracking, once they went straight out of the field and into the woods he clicked on his comms, "Barb they're in the forrest I don't think I can track them in their."

"Stay calm Tim I know we can find them, I'm checking all the satellite images now."

Drake nodded then asked with insecurity, "You didn't tell Batman did you?"

Suddenly the deeply mild voice of the caped crusader transmitted, "She didn't have to, I was linked in this whole time and heard everything."

Robin suddenly broke down in a nervous frenzy, "Bruce I promise I'll find them. You can trust me."

"Just get on your bike and meet up with Nightwing, we can deal with this later."

Before Robin could respond he heard the comms mute on his end which left him no choice but to get on his motorcycle and ride out to Tokyo.

While in the Batmobile Oracle responded to the dark knight, "This wasn't his fault, you shouldn't be so hard on him."

"I'm not always going to be around Barbara, he needs to learn how to handle these situations when they don't go his way."

"So what's your plan then?"

Batman began to punch in a few commands on his center console computer and said, "I figured something like this would happen so I prepared a little insurance just in case. When Ame needed to be escorted up to the crew quarters I planted a tracer on the inside of his shirt and also rerouted a Wayne satellite on the toy factory I'm heading to. I'm sending you the footage now, see if anything happened between the time they left and now."

"Got it, it may take me a while that's about an hour and a half of footage to go through."

"Just do what you can Oracle."

"What about Two-Face and Penguin?"

"Dick can handle it, I trust him. Plus Robin will be providing back up."

"Why then go after Hana yourself?"

Batman's brow creased in a harsh angle, "Because that one involves Joker, and he's mine."

As the vehicle was coming around the bend which put the city of Tokyo in the horizon Oracle came back on, "Bruce, I've been going through the footage and something else is bothering me."

"What is it?"

"Well if we were able to decipher which toy factory it was by the symbol in Joker's video then the police should have as well. And well…."

"Go on."

"The police never responded."

"What?"

"Or I should say that I've been listening in on their communications and not once has there been talk about investigating the toy factory, I don't like this Bruce."

"Chief Sitoshi." said Batman, "He has to be a member of the Yakuza and helping Giro."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but when you take into account that the police's involvement would be the greatest hinderance of all to the Yakuza it begins to make more sense."

"Why would the Yakuza call them off and have you save Hana?"

"Because Joker threatened that if I didn't bring Yuki and Ame he'd kill her. They need them to complete the serum and think that I was actually going to bring them along."

"Little do they know that's not how you operate."

"And this Giro is going to find out a lot more about how I do things." said Batman as he approached the city limits.

Now the city of Tokyo was quite lively even during the night. Our caped crusader new that his vehicle of a peculiar of design would not go unnoticed should he take the main roads, therefore he took the back ways to avoid as much public attention as possible. He pulled into the alley that Yuki and Ame recently traversed and got out.

He flipped on his detective vision and surveyed the area and noticed the scanner picked up a set of liquid drops on the ground that led up to the main entrance. He examined it closely and radio'd in, "Oracle I'm finding small traces of blood leading to the warehouse."

"Who do you suppose it belongs to?"

"Yuki, she had stitches in her arm and they must have pulled out."

Suddenly Oracle made a diversion in topic and stated, "Before you go in there, you should know that while looking through the satellite footage, a white van did pull up and Yuki and Ame did go in. But the van is gone now…."

"And Ame's tracker is still transmitting from within the warehouse…." concluded the dark knight.

"Be careful Bruce who knows what's in there and knowing Joker…well I don't need to tell you."

"It'll be alright Barbara." assured Batman as he entered the building.

For the next part of the small journey, Batman covered nearly the same steps and distance as the siblings those hours prior but with much more caution. This time around the warehouse seemed even darker with an ever more foreboding presence about it.

He slipped into shipping and receiving and began to look around and saw a figure laying hurdled on the floor. He approached it and found it to be the fake body used to trick Yuki and Ame. He noticed that the closer he got to it the more persistent the beeping in his cowl would sound indicating that the proximity to the tracker was narrowing.

Carefully he lifted it up and saw the the same stitched face that Ame did however a new addition was that of lipstick that was smeared into a smile on it. The tracker was on the lapel, it had to have been planted by Joker to lure Batman to this spot. Then on the chest of the doll was a sign that hung from it's neck reading _'Joke's on you!' _

Batman knew better than to assume the warehouse was empty, for the Joker would never intentionally summon his most obsessive adversary anywhere unless a higher purpose was to be served. Just then an echo from some kind of disturbance reverted off the walls. Batman looked behind him and saw an odd protrusion off of the silhouette of one of the load bearing beams.

Once he got a better look he saw that Ame was tied to the beam and was gagged with a rag and had a cherry red clown nose applied to his face. He also had a sign hanging from his neck of which the script read, '_This is what happens when you drag your friends into this crazy little game of ours…' _

The caped crusader approached him and radio'd, "Oracle I found Ame."

The boy's eyes opened and finally got a sense of the situation.

"Bruce I'm picking up a lot of signals in the building." came Oracle's voice.

Batman then switched on his detective vision to survey the area as Ame began to thrash to get free and get the clown nose off of his face.

"Ame don't move!" came the reprove of the bat.

He stopped and looked at him peculiarly with eyes that beckoned why such a command would be given until Batman said, "Oracle, Joker has Ame rigged."

The boy's eyes widened as he then looked about him and could see that stiff wires were attached to his person and could only assume that whatever was behind him was some kind of explosive. Batman continued while looking about, "There are explosives attached to the structure's weak points, if they go off this whole building is coming down."

Sweat began to secrete down the sides of Ame's face as Batman began to tread about the investigation with the greatest care and seriousness the boy had ever seen anyone do. The dark knight continued to talk but he was not speaking to Ame but to Barbara.

"I can get him out I just need to find the detonator."

Batman then began to carefully inspect the workings of the death trap Joker had set up and found that Ame's body, though tied and hooked, was in no way the means in which the bombs were to go off. Gently he cut the boy down and let him on his feet.

Once at liberty, Ame took the rag off his mouth and took a deep breath of air and said, "Finally I can get this thing off my nose!"

Alarmed Batman suddenly saw Ame remove the clown nose in which he rushed to stop him but ere it was too late. Batman seized the nose and heard it beep, that was the detonator.

"Bruce Get Out Of There!" yelled Oracle.

The dark knight lunged for Ame grabbed him and took him to the ground and wrapped himself up in his cape and anticipated the blast. Instead he heard something quite unusual if not bizarre, honks and whistles. He look up and saw the explosives on the walls simply shoot out banners that said, 'Bang!'

They were never in any real danger.

Batman got up and got the boy to his feet. Ame began to dust himself off before getting quite the scolding.

"What do you think you were doing?" said Batman with unrelenting disapproval, 'Joker has been looking for you and you went right to him!"

"I don't know, what right did you have to lock us up?"  
"I was trying to keep you safe." Batman then looked around, "Where's your sister?"

Ame bowed his head and sniffled, "She's gone, the clown took her."

"Why didn't the Joker take the two of you?"

"I don't know he just said that she's the one he really needed."

Batman let out a sigh as his logic and reasoning connected the dots, "Freeze must have been closer to completing the serum than I realized. Whatever he was missing must have been found within a female donor. And now Joker as her and Freeze can complete his research."

"That's not all,' moaned Ame, 'he still has Mom and I have no idea where he's keeping her."

Batman then began typing in a few commands on the computer on his gauntlet while radioing in, "Oracle did you happen to see where the white van went to?"

"Actually…." she said, "There is something interesting I found while the two of you were talking. I began cross referencing everything about Joker with the Japanese national data base and it actually gave me an auditorium that was rented out by a Jakku Shiro today. I don't know why but I thought I would run it by you to see if it means anything."

Batman then said, "Send me the address, that's where Joker is."

"How can you tell?"

"Jakku Shiro is Japanese for Jack White, one of Joker's oldest alias's."

Ame suddenly spoke up, "I'm coming with you."

"You've done enough." replied Batman as he began walking away.

Ame followed after him, "Please I know I screwed up but this can be my chance to help make it right."

"I have it under control."

Ame stopped and pondered more deeply then blurted out, "If Joker sees you he might expect I'll be there to, what will happen to my family if I'm not there?"

The dark knight stopped on the step and looked back.

"Think about it, if he really didn't need me and is your sworn enemy and all that, then why didn't he just kill us both? Unless he wants us both alive and together for some other reason."

Batman was suddenly called off into a train of thought, the boy's logic was beginning to become more clear. He knew all too well that the only reason Joker let those who crossed him live was if it were to serve a higher purpose.

"I mean wasn't it you who said that nothing is simple with the clown?" finished Ame.

Once more the boy was right. Joker had something else in mind and this reunion between Batman and Ame had to have been the start of it. Joker wanted them together, and if they did not arrive that way, who would know what would happen from it.

It was dangerous to bring Ame along, it was uncertain if he did not, therefore Batman looked at him and said, "Fine then, you can come with me. But don't make me regret this or you will."

Ame quickly ran up to heel besides him as they exited the building. Soon both were found in the batmobile and were driving off to destinations unknown.

Ame looked at the unique interior of the car and began to grow curious about it's functions until the dark knight stopped him by saying, "Don't touch anything."

He leaned back with his arms folded and looked out the window of the canopy.

"So what are we going to do when we get there?" he asked.

"You are going to do exactly as I say, I'll handle the rest."

Ame was flustered but understood, "Fine then lead the way."

After a few more moments of riding Ame timidly looked up at Batman then asked of him, "So why don't you kill these guys? After everything they have ever done, why don't you just end them and be done with it?"

Batman's attitude shifted, "They may kill for their cause but I will never kill for mine."

"And what is your cause?"

"To give the people hope, and strike fear into the hearts of the fearful."

"I think people would have more hope if they knew that those who preyed on them would never prey again."

The dark knight then said, "And once you take that first step down that road, there is no coming back. If you become just as savage as your enemy then all that you have ever fought for will be for nothing."

"Why is that?"

"Because that hope turns to fear and before you know it, you become the evil you fought against. Listen once we get there I don't want you going anywhere near Joker."

"Why not? He kidnapped my Mom and sister and he's going to pay!"

Batman then looked at him assertively, "Because you are one step away from becoming like him."

Ame was stunned and could barely speak at the absurdity of that statement.

Batman then continued, "Do you know what Joker loves more than killing people? Breaking people, turning them into something else than they are. Then having them live out their lives as monsters he's created."

"Like who?"

The caped crusader gripped the steering wheel more tightly, "Like an old friend I once had. He was young and strong and wanted to see justice served. That desire sent him going after Joker alone and he got kidnapped, tortured and beaten for months."

"What happened to this friend of yours?" asked Ame innocently.

"I thought he was killed but instead he emerged from that hell as a monster. The young man I knew was dead and in his place something else, something different. Something that Joker made him into, something that he wanted him to be. And that is a fate worse than death."

The vehicle then came to a stop, they were at there destination. The Batmobile was parked just a few hundred feet away within a back parking lot in which the auditorium could still be seen at a distance.

Ame leaned forward to take a closer look then asked, "Well we're here, what do you need me to do?"

Suddenly he felt he left hand getting manipulated followed by a few clicks. The boy looked down and saw that his hand had just been handcuffed to the center console.

"What are you doing?" he protested.

The canopy opened as Batman got out and said, "The right choice, trust me."

Ame began to thrash and shake and curse the dark knight out, but soon his protests were muffled as the canopy closed over him. He pounded on the window as he watched Batman walk away and disappear into the darkness.


	18. Inner Demons

**Greetings folks, boy it's been a while since I updated. believe it or not I rewrote this chapter about 3x before I got the direction I wanted after seeking some advice from friends.**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**Inner Demons**

Though the Joker and his cronies were in possession of Yuki, that did not extend in the slightest the reality that they could detain her with simplicity. She fought and pulled, snarled and snapped and made the transit a virtual hell for her captors. At least on two occasions she managed to enclose an appendage here and there with the powerful clamp of her jaws.

Yet through it all, Joker simply chuckled and laughed for to him nothing was worth his sympathy, yet he knew that the point would need come that she should be kept under control, that did not stop him from prolonging the fun.

She was dragged into a room with a mirror in the wall to the right and a table with straps on it near a tray of assorted medical tools to her left. This only enhanced her desire to escape by becoming even more savage.

Joker, when deciding that the hour of entertainment had met its purpose, went to the mirror and knocked and smiled menacingly into it.

It was then that a voice came in through the intercom, "Yuki it will be alright sweetie just do what they say and it will be over soon."

It was the voice of Hana which stilled the wolf's fury and caused her to look into the mirror which by now was revealed to be a two-way. The lights behind it went on and there was her mother tied to a chair with a henchmen on each side of her. Yuki began to whimper as Joker came up to her and said, "Now, now my little fur ball let us be on our best behavior!"

Yuki eyed him carefully as he paced up to her with his hands perched behind his back, "You see my dear, unfortunately when I rented this place I didn't realize that the tenants strictly demanded that there were to be no animals in the building and oh what a shame if the parent of such an irresponsible individual paid the price for their blatant disregard."

Slowly but reluctantly, Yuki put aside her canine form and took upon her humanoid mantle. The clown then motioned towards the table, "Now lay down and the doctor will be in shortly."

No sooner than when Yuki complied that she was strapped in and a collar similar to Ame's was applied to keep her from attempting to change once more. Nervously breathing Yuki awaited what would come next while Hana could only sit and watch.

Heavy footfalls could be heard coming from the hallway until they stopped at the door in which Mr. Freeze had made his appearance. He looked upon the scene with a deadened glance then asked heartlessly, "This is the girl then?,' then to Joker, 'Perhaps I was wrong then in doubting you."

Joker, while never abandoning his menacing grin, replied, "It was quite simple really, to keep any good doggie at heal you just need to find the right leash." He then could not help but motion to Hana.

Freeze then said, "Let us begin, time is of the essence."

As the ice man was going through his tools a henchmen entered and whispered into Joker's ear, "I just saw the bat's car pull up and it looks like the other kid's in there, what do we do?"

"Come with me we have phone call to make." said the clown as he called a few over to him and left.

As they were out of ear shot Joker handed one of his henchmen the phone and said, "Ok boys you know what to do!"

The thug dialed away and awaited a few moments until his call was picked up in which he said, "Yeah this is one of Joker's gang, just saying that we've done our part, you better get ready to move."

One of the goons who stayed behind to aid Freeze asked, "So what are we taken from her anyway?"

Without so much as a simple regard for Yuki's presence, he said chillingly, "We need various samples, blood, plasma and bone marrow."

"Jeez ain't that painful?"

"What are you implying?" came the irritated, synthetic reply.

"Well don't you normally put people to sleep for that or something?"

"We do not have time for anesthesia, now take this (handing him a tool for exsanguination) you will apply this to her jugular."

Freeze then betook a large syringe with a great hollow needle.

"What's that for?"

"I will extract the marrow via her femur bone."

Yuki began to shake and squirm but it was no use as the goon put the tool to her neck and activated it. She felt a deep pang shoot straight in before feeling light headed as the fresh blood that would have gone to the brain went to a canister instead. While Freeze approached her right thigh, Yuki struggled but the hand of the mechanized suit came down with such force that her leg could not so much as move an inch. The needled past through the flesh and muscles and penetrated the bone.

Yuki shrieked in agony as tears rolled down her face. Even the goon began to show signs of sympathy but was scolded by Freeze, "Never mind her! Keep going!"

Hana jolted the most and was at a standstill to either look away to relieve herself of this terrible sight of her daughter being tortured yet was compelled to watch considering that as an act of parental betrayal. The blood was withdrawn rather quickly, but the marrow came at a more delicate and sluggish pace.

"Help me keep her down!' said Victor, 'If the needle slips and the marrow escapes it can get into the blood, I need a healthy specimen!"

The goon resigned his duty and helped Freeze keep the leg down. What was in reality only moments, were separate sentences of agonizing eternity for Yuki. At last the needle was taken out with the poor girl weeping. Freeze had what he needed in the form of a brown liquid that was then set aside.

The goon then asked, "So what now? You put that stuff in a blender and we get wolf powers?"

"In a sense, but this formula is not meant for any of you."

"Wait you mean we ain't gonna use it? What's the point?"

"Because you simpleton, to actually create a formula that would be safe for human testing would take weeks, even months. What I have here is enough to create a more basic yet unstable version, we are going to use it as a bargaining chip to force the Yakuza to pay us what is rightfully owed."

"So will it work?"

"More or less but it would not yield the results they wanted."

"Oh I get it. So you're just gonna create a crappy version of the formula and make it sound like it's the real deal so the _Yukazou_ or whatever will pay you the money they promised. Then once we get the money we just blow outta here and they end up getting screwed cuz the formula ain't safe. Right?"

"Perhaps there is hope for you after all." said Freeze in his own way of confirming what had just been concluded.

"So then if you're just making a crappy version why do you need all these samples?"

"Because the Yakuza had the right idea of weaponizing these abilities. If this formula can be perfected, imagine the type of market it would bring in."

"So we sell it like a weapon in Gotham."

"Or around the world.' said Freeze, 'Either way if we are unhindered you may be well enough off to start a Swiss account."

The goon nodded then timidly asked, "Yo ice man I do have one more question."

"Make it quick!" came the tone of the mechanized man whose patience was wearing very thin.

"If we got her blood why do you need her bone marrow? Ain't it all the same?"

"Bone marrow contains stem cells that can be made into another cell vie blood, skin etc. With just blood cells alone they have already been infused with all of the host's DNA and such, stem cells can be re worked. This is why a formula with just blood cells is dangerous, there is no telling what it could do when combined to a foreign host."

"But the stem cell version could adapt to a new host right?"

"In a sense. The stem formula would be much safer while the blood formula could have catastrophic results if the DNA cannot match."

"Would it kill em?"

"More or less, if per chance you survived you would most likely wish your destruction shortly after." said Freeze apathetically.

"But why did you need the girl, ain't the boy enough?"

"No in order for the DNA to sync with a new host I need it to start with the mitochondria which the lineage between mother and daughter is much stronger. While I needed the boy's X chromosomes to have it be more compatible with any gender."

The goon pondered, "Ok so basically the formula re writes my DNA but the best way to make that happen is to have have it work on the mito whatever side first. The stem cells will make it safe for my body to not reject and assimilate the changes while the X and Y chromosomes will make it so guy or gal could take it. Am I right on that?"

Freeze looked upon him most astutely, "You are such an advent learner, why on earth did you pursue a life of crime?"

He shrugged, "I dunno, stealing is easier and I'm good at it."

"Well,' said Freeze motioning to the girl, 'are you also proficient in guard duty?"

"Yeah I'll make sure nothing happens to her."

"Good, take her to the observatory in room K-15. Now before I begin my work are there any other questions you may have?"

"Yeah just a few."

"With haste then."

"I hear the _Yakuzi_ guys are trying to get these kids back, what happens of they try to get in here?"

"They won't get far, the failsafes that have been set up by Dr. Crane can have _terrifying_ results. Just be sure to be out of the building should the alarm sound."

"What's gonna happen to the girl and her mom when we're done in Japan?"

Freeze paused a moment as if to fight back a slight whiff of remorse, "The girl and her brother are coming with us, they are the only ones remaining of their kind and if we are to keep replicating the correct formula we will need more samples of the appropriate DNA."

The goon scratched the back of his neck as the ice man was departing then suddenly called out again in which Freeze nearly killed him out of frustration.

"What is it!?"

The henchmen timidly asked one final question, "You said you needed both kids right, then how come the clown only came back with her?"

Freeze's complexion changed entirely, "That is an excellent question."

…

At the time when Batman left Ame in the Bat-mobile he carefully surveyed the building from on high before making his way to the roof. Once atop he looked around for a discrete point of entrance so that he may silently make his appearance, for though this was a rescue mission it was also a hostage situation in which the most dire of caution was to be pursued.

"Oracle, get me the schematics of the building, I'm going to try and find a way in." he said on his comm.

Barbara replied back, "I've been digging and the ventilation shaft on the east end should drop you into the building's mezzanine."

As the dark knight made his way there he removed the grate and entered via the ventilation shaft. He proceeded down some more when his path was stopped by a large rotating fan. He withdrew a small soldering tool that emitted a blue flame that he used to cut into the rotating center which exposed the small motor before sabotaging it and bringing the fan to a halt.

He slipped through the blades and made his way around until stopping at an anomaly that was not indigenous to the air system's original design.

It was a device with two large Co2 canisters on the sides.

"Oracle I've got something."

"I see it, is it one of Joker's bombs?"

"It wouldn't surprise me that some failsafes would be installed to keep people out."

He gave it a more thorough examination before saying, "It doesn't appear to be activated by proximity that must mean it's remote."

"Tread carefully then we don't want the building come down on you while anyone is in there."

"I don't think this bomb is for imploding, this looks like it's designed to pump gas in through the vents."

"Joker's laughing toxin…" said Barbara with gloom.

Batman then began working on the device before radioing back, "Not this one I have it disabled."

"That's probably not the only one,' returned Oracle, 'my guess is that Joker has enough of these to fill the entire building, there could be more than a half a dozen by my count."

"Unfortunately I don't have time to look for them all, I'll just need to work fast and make sure no one gets alerted."

Soon after Batman dropped down to the steel catacombs of a darkened mezzanine. It seemed vacant for the most part with no one in particular in sight. Keeping a sharp eye he walked down the hallway while scanning his environment with great care. Once the steel flooring turned to concrete he concluded himself to be in a type facilities structure and found an elevator. Next to it however was a set of stairs leading down and chose that course to maintain the mantle of discretion.

When on a lower level he turned around a corridor then immediately retreated back behind the corner from whence he came when a door along the wall opened and out walked two thugs. Batman haunched down and listened as the two talked.

"So what do we do now?"

"I dunno, I'm just sick of playing guard duty."

"Yeah but ain't we 'sposed to be watching the gal?"

"She's strapped to a freaking chair how the hell is she gonna get out?"

"If the boss finds out we left…"

"Joker's not gonna know!"

Once they receded out of view Batman made his way to the door. After picking the lock he carefully opened it to see Hana tied down who turned her face to him in terror. Quickly the dark knight motioned with his finger to his lips for her to be silent while he went over and unstrapped her.

"It's ok Ms. Hana I'm here to get you out, I have Ame and he's 's Yuki?" he asked sharply.

Crying, Hana could only say, "They took her after experimenting on her!"

"What were they doing?"

Holding her hand to her mouth Hana went on, "They were extracting her blood and bone marrow! While talking about some serum." she then began to go a bit hysterical.

"Calm down Ms. Hana. This is important I need you to tell me everything you saw and heard." returned Batman with some sympathy.

Breathing deeply, the mother continued, "The ice man said that he needed Yuki to complete some serum for the Yakuza. Except he said he was going to make an unstable one to sell to them while continuing to make a better version to sell around the world. I don't understand any of this."

Batman's brow fringed, "Ms. Hana the reason your children were abducted was because someone discovered their abilities and wished to weaponize it by creating a serum using their DNA. They hired on Gotham's worst and most notorious criminals to carry out the procedure but in the end was going to double cross them when it was all said and done."

"Dear God…" she said while shaking her head.

Batman then got on his comms, "Oracle we have another issue."

"So I heard. So Freeze is going to make a trial version of the formula and sell that off to the Yakuza?"

"It looks that way."

"Why would he do that?"

"Revenge and a bargaining chip. If he, Penguin and Two-Face want their money and get even with Giro this would be the perfect way to do it. While in the meantime he'll work on a more perfected specimen and sell that to any bidder around the world."

"That's not all." said Hana who continued when Batman looked to her, "He also said that the only way to keep working on it is by taking Yuki and Ame with him!"

"It won't come to that, I won't let it." returned the caped crusader.

"Neither will I." said the fretful mother as she went out the door.

"Hana wait!"

"I know where their keeping Yuki, in K-15."

Batman stopped her with a hand to her shoulder, "It's too dangerous, I'll go, you need to get out of this building."

"No I'm not leaving my daughter!"

"Joker has this building rigged I can't let you…"

"All the more reason for me to stay and find Yuki."  
"I wouldn't argue with her Bruce." said Oracle.

"Fine then, but get behind me and if you see anyone of Joker's men, you run and hide and let me take care of it. Understand?"

She nodded with gratefulness and did as he said. They proceeded down the hallway when the two goons who were supposed to be guarding Hana came around the corner. Hana retreated and watched the dark knight quickly take action. Before Hana could even comprehend the seriousness of the situation the two goons lay on the ground motionless with one having sheet rock powdering his hair with a head sized hole in the wall above his face signifying where his skull went.

Though the incursion was a bit frightful, what caused Batman to ponder more was the fact that security was rather loose considering the importance of keeping Yuki from being taken. Eventually they made their way to the room marked K-15. Batman carefully surveyed the area and found it vacant of any hostiles which caused him some uneasiness. He opened the door and there was Yuki as she was last seen, strapped to the table.

Hana shrilled with joy as she went to her while Batman assisted in removing the restraints. Yuki was then able to sit up and embrace her mother with them both weeping for joy. All that remained was the removal of the shock collar which Batman was in the process of dismantling.

"Sweetie I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I think so. Where's Ame?"

"He's safe.' said Batman who changed subjects, 'Where is Freeze?"

"I don't know when the put me in here they all just left, saying something like their boss told them to get out of the building. So they, Freeze and the other scientist left."

"What other scientist?"

Scratching the back of her neck Yuki said while trying to recollect, "Dr. Crane I think."

The collar fell in which Batman quickly hoisted her up and said with haste, "Come on we need to get out of here now!"

"What's…?!'

He did not give them much time to respond he got Yuki to her feet who fell due to the pang in her thigh caused by the marrow extraction therefore Batman gave her over to Hana and began jogging out with Hana struggling to keep up.

"Oracle the situation is worse than I thought, the building isn't rigged with Joker's laughing toxin!"

"Wait what are you…!"

Suddenly the lights went out and were replaced with red strobes that circulated around the bulkheads followed by an eerie siren ending with two armed men blocking the entrance with their guns aimed upon them.

"What's happening?" yelled Yuki.

Just then a voice over the intercom spoke with a voice of highly sinister delight, "Oh think nothing of it my dear, the good Dr. Freeze has performed his experiments with you, now I would like to conduct one of my own."

"Who is that?" asked Hana with anxiety.

Batman squinted his eyes, "Dr. Crane."

"Good, good so glad I have not been forgotten."

"What do you want with the girl Crane?!" shot back the dark knight.

"Don't worry Batman you're all going to be part of experiment."  
Yuki's eyes then widened as she gripped onto her mother more tightly when remembering her last ordeal with the Doctor that turned Ame into a savage absent minded. Before she could give utterance the vents began to emit a clear like steam that slowly fell to the ground at the furthest end of the hallway. Batman turned and began to rush Hana and Yuki into a retreat with the goons demanding he stop before they started coughing and hacking and rubbing their faces. Shortly after, they began throwing a type of conniption fit and becoming more catatonic as they began screaming and shooting in random directions as though a visible threat were present.

"What's happening to them?" asked Hana as she was being farther escorted back.

"You don't want to know." said Batman as he had them turn the corridor to try and outrun the dispersal of gas, which thankfully due to the previous disarming of one device, were able to do so.

They came to an area with a secluded room off to the right with windows on it which which served as a private research space and seemed to have an exit around the back according to the sign. They just needed to pass through here.

"Quickly through there!" said Batman.

As he opened the door a terrifying scream was heard from behind. One of the goons, who was in a panicked frenzy, rushed and charged the dark knight while in an uncontrollable hysteria. He tackled the crusader to the ground with a foaming mouth while pounding on him mercilessly.

"Hana, Yuki! Get to the exit!" he hastily instructed.

Hana watched in terror and began to do as instructed . Once she entered the room she looked through the glass and saw that another goon had entered the hallway (who had severe red scratches all over his face) where Batman was contending with the first. He saw Hana and her daughter in there and began to pound on the glass trying to get in. When that failed he saw the quarrel happening next to him but did not pick a side, he began pistol whipping both men.

"Mom Batman needs help!" said Yuki who looked as though she was about to transform.

Hana however cried out, "No I'm not loosing you again!"

She took her daughter and forced her to the exit, opened it and pushed her through.

"You'll be safe Yuki, that's all I want for you!"

Suddenly Yuki shrieked for some unknown reason as the door was slammed shut right in front of Hana. That was when an eerie looking hand came forth from the shadows and blasted a powerful mist full of steam in her face.

Hana collapsed while coughing and looked up to see a figure dressed in a black trench coat and leather boots and gloves with a horrifying, hooded burlap mask over his face with two canisters on each side of his cheeks and a stitched mouth.

"Thank you for joining us Mrs. Hana. Don't worry the good doctor is in." said the figure.

She could hear Yuki screaming on the other side and rushed to open the door but it was locked. She turned back to the other door where Batman had led them to and ran to it to save her daughter however when she approached the dead bolt shifted in place and was immovable.

That's when her environment began to change. The tiles and sheet rock began to pull back while the room was lit in a fiery amber as if the flames of hell had opened their jaws to this point of the world.

She began to fret terribly as the room was transformed into a nightmare version of itself.

"Please someone help me!" she screamed.

The figure then spoke, "No one is coming my dear. You're in my world now!"

"She looked back to see the black hooded figure begin to secrete black ooze from it's mouth while it's eyes started to flicker with flames. The whole frame of the personage then began jittering unnaturally.

She scurried back from it in inexpressible trepidation while panting, "D-Dr. Crane!?"  
He rose up out of a black mist while claws began growing from his fingers and declared

in the most demonic tone she had ever heard.

"N**O tH****e****_R_**e _I_s** no** **_C_****ra**N**_e_****, oN**_L_Y **_S_**_C__a_R**e****CR****O****W****!**_!_!"

Hana shrieked in absolute horror at the sight, she looked around and found a 2x4 and began swinging at the monstrosity which only dispersed in black cloud when struck only to be rematerialized again. Each time she had swung and the same outcome had transpired she could hear the evil laughter of scarecrow all about her.

She looked around and saw a hallway that was engulfed in a devilish red light, looking behind her she saw the black flames of scarecrow coming for her so she ran heedlessly away down into the passage. The ground and walls seemed to be melting with pieces of her surroundings breaking apart and ascending upwards.

"t**H**a_t_'S I**t**, **_K_**eEp _R_uN**n**in**_g_** mY **d**e**A**_r_!" said the harrowing voice.

Sweating and panting in terrible anguish, Hana continued her course until suddenly the hallway changed drastically. She was now alone in a dark and dank cell of concrete walls, rusted pipe and cockroaches peppering the floor and skirmishing about. She shuddered and tried not to step on the insects when she noticed the walls were suddenly decorated.

It was green spray paint which spelled the words, 'HA HA HA HA!' and 'Look whose laughing now!'

She then could hear Joker's laughing voice in her head which grew louder. As the ballad of mockery increased the letters began to imitate the laughing motion while starting to have a bleeding effect to run down the walls. She closed her eyes and covered her ears while yelling, "STOP IT, STOP!"

"Hana…" said a calm voice.

She looked up to see what she perceived to be a ghost. It was her love and father of her beloved children. She arose and went to embrace him who rebuked her by saying coldly, "Hana what have you done?"

"What?" she stammered hurtfully.

"Why didn't you protect my children? I gave my life for them and you allowed them to be taken?"

"No-no it wasn't my fault, I tried my best to keep them safe, G-god I did!"

"Your best? came the ridicule.

Meanwhile, Batman was on the ground just outside the room, he had dealt with the two threats but was suffering from a cracked rib. He pulled out a small tool and injected himself with a morphine based compound to numb the pain while arising. He got to his feet and could see Hana standing alone in tears while seeming to be talking and pleading with thin air. Yet she carried about her business as though a tangible being was in front of her.

But to Hana she was having a real conversation as any man would speak with another. She pulled her face away from her love in shame, "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't a good enough mother for Yuki and Ame….!"

When she looked back he was gone, in place of him was a dead, rotting wolf at her feet. Hana wailed and collapsed with her face buried in her hands, "No, Please NO! Not again! Don't take him from me again!"

Batman could see Hana's condition while she was on her knees and sobbing uncontrollably, he began to pound the glass with all his might while calling out to her, "Hana! What you're seeing isn't real!"

He needed to get her out of there and began doubling his efforts on the glass to break it.

Hana was still in her own world morning at the sight of the dead wolf in front of her, that was when she heard enormous canon blasts happening all around that broke and fractured the walls with each bellow. The entire cell broke out into a swirling abyss of cloud and debris and Hana began to fall until landing in what seemed to be an elementary school with demented coloring and architecture.

She wandered around and saw Yuki outside in the courtyard in her partial wolf form with all the other children pointing and jeering at her. That's when Yuki suddenly lashed out at all the students. Hana shrieked and yelled while running out, "Yuki no don't hurt them! Remember what I told you, 'I'm going to be a good girl all the way home!'"

She ran down the stairs and to the courtyard to stop her daughter's rampage. All the children were laying on the ground screaming in pain and suffering while Yuki's claws and teeth slashed at any who remained standing. She got to her daughter and held her down while pleading for her to stop.

That's when Hana was pounced upon and thrown to the ground of her house which now had two wolves fighting quarreling with each other. The siblings were now fighting in full animal attire with great snarls of their teeth.

"Yuki, Ame stop fighting!"

Hana arose and ran to fight them but as she did the space between them grew into an extended corridor. She ran harder as Ame pinned Yuki down and got his jaws tightly gripped around her throat.

She kicked and yelped while her dominator shook and increased the aggression. Eventually Hana got to the altercation which by now had Yuki laying motionless with red staining the fur around her neck. As she attempted to pull Ame off he suddenly fell from view.

A river was now running through the hard wood floor that led out to an opening in a frozen wilderness. The current was dragging Ame out who struggled and called for help as he was getting pulled under

"No AME!' screamed Hana as she ran after him, 'Don't worry I'm coming for you!"

She ran down the frosty covered banks as fast as her legs could carry her. The boy thrashed and yelled but as soon as his mother got to him he was sucked under the water. In which Hana kneeled by the river in silent hysteria.

She looked up to see a blackened figure surrounded by swirling shadow on the other side of the bank speaking in evil tongues, "**H**ow _D_o**E**s i**_T_** feEl mY _D_ea**r**? _T_o reLi**v**e tHe **_m_**oSt _H_orRi**f**iC **_M_**Ome**n**t_S_ oF Yo_u_r LIf**e**. _T_o fin**D** yoUrs**e**lF I**_N_** tH**e** sAm**e** Si**t**u_a_tiOn**s** **O**f _f_eA**r** o**N****L**y t_O_ **h**AvE **t**hE w_O_rs**t **Ca**s**e **s**Ce**n**ar**_I_**o uN_f_oL**d** _b_e**F**or**_e_** yo**_U_**?"

Hana shook her head as liquid pearls fell from her eyes, "I never wanted this to happen…despite my efforts I could never control what happened."

"A**n**_d_ n**O**w **t**hAt Fe**a**r c**o**nTro_L_S **Y**ou aNd _w_h**e**n _y_**o**u Fi**n**D tHe **e**nd oF **_t_**hAt **_f_**EaR yOu _f_iN**d** **o**bLIvio**N**."

The shadowy delineation of Scarecrow was now in front of her who yelled with malice as his face exploded in a fiery red, "**S**UB_M_IT!**_!_**!"

She scrambled away while screaming for her life until another demon overtook the former. A horned demon clad in black with torn wings of a gargoyle who came upon the shrieking woman and wrapped his shroud over her.

Batman had Hana asleep in her arms with Scarecrow as he was presented in the natural world on the ground and writhing in pain and very incoherent. He wore a respirator and withdrew a syringe from her neck while saying to Barbara, "Oracle, I have Hana sedated."

"What happened?"

"Crane got to her."

"Is she all right?"

"She will be."

"What of Scarecrow?"

"Hm, I have him subdued for the moment."

Oracle then came back, "What about Yuki?"

"She couldn't have gone too far, I'll find her."

"What are you going to do in the meantime?"

Batman looked around the room and said, "This appears to be the private research lab of Dr. Crane. The fear toxin had a more unusual effect than what I'd normally expect."

"What do you mean?"

"Hana was having a different reaction, it was almost as if she was re living something. I need to find out what Scarecrow has been working on."  
"What are you talking about, you need to find Yuki now!"

"Crane had her taken away, only he knows where that is, I just need to wait for him to wake up."

The dark knight then meandered a bit until he found an audio journal and began playing it.

_"This is the Audio log of Dr. Jonathan Crane. The effects of my latest toxin does not quite produce the results I want. Granted it will show a man nightmares without question however what are men really afraid of? Monsters or demons? The imagination can only break a man's mind so far until it realizes it need not be afraid of such things. Therefore I wish to unlock the demons that are not fictitious, I want to find the demons that are real."_

The next log played.

_"Experiences! Those are things that shape the human into what it is. The best way to recall experiences is in the little realm known as memory. What if…what if I can cause the brain to relive something traumatic only to have be worse than it was? It is so brilliant I can't believe I didn't think of it before!"_

It was cut short and moved to the next file.

_"An odd request has come to me. Apparently someone in Tokyo has taken a liking to my work and asked for help on a secretive project. Initially I was going to turn it down until I saw some opportunities with the more lucrative details of the proposal. Perhaps this can further my construction to my monument of fear. Nothing ventured nothing gained."_

The final log played.

_"My intuition proved true, though I have no interest in this weapon the Yakuza are wanting to develop I suddenly found another means to make demons real, in fact very real. While Dr. Fries is attempting to concoct this serum I've helped myself to his research notes and perhaps when my final formula is done I can add on a little side project."_

Batman sighed, "Crane has Freeze's research notes on the serum, I can't leave until I make sure there is no trace of it anywhere. Most likely they'll be on his computer."

He then walked over to the monitor on the desk to his left and began hacking into it remotely. After a few moments he was able to pull up all the research notes.

"Oracle I'm sending these to you, they could be useful later on."

"I'm already receiving them. It looks like Crane has been adding a new compound to his fear toxin, a product known as Donepezil."

The dark knight then said, "It's a drug commonly used to treat Alzheimers disease. But it's been modified above and beyond anything on medical record. It appears that the fear toxin is able to target traumatic events in the individual's memory and have them relive it."

"But instead of the original ending the person gets the ending they've always feared." said Oracle.

"In essence." returned Batman as he continued his research.

Finally he came upon the documents Freeze kept concerning the serum he had been working on.

"What are you up to Crane?" Batman said quietly to himself.

After a few more minutes of investigating he said, "Oracle I've seen these notes before. Looks like Freeze has tapped into the research of Dr. Kirk Langstrom."  
"You mean the guy who turned himself into the man-bat?"

"Yes, Langstrom discovered how to combine his DNA with the Desmodus rotundus and was able to successfully create a man animal hybrid."

"Well I can see why Freeze would need these notes but what the hell does Scarecrow need with them?"

"I have no idea…"

He then heard a faint grunt coming from behind him as Scarecrow was making it to his hands and knees. Batman vengefully went to him and grabbed him by the lapels and threw him into one of the nearby desks.

"The girl Yuki, where have you taken her!?"

"Such violence as a means to get what you want." he wheezed.

The dark knight leaned in while putting pressure to his throat, "Tell me Crane, do you fear pain?"

"Broken bones mend, torn skin heals but our trauma, the pain of our past, that stays with us. Tell me Batman what happened in your past that caused you to become what you are?"

"I'm not playing your games Crane!"

"Oh it's not a game Dark Knight, it's an experiment."  
Suddenly Batman felt a sharp pang in his right arm as Scarecrow injected him with some kind of solution. He withdrew immediately before being overcome with a powerful emotion that drove him down to his knees.

Scarecrow walked around him and taunted, "That's it, feel it course through your veins and twist your mind."

Batman, while still having a bit of his mental dexterity within him, saw Hana and immediately leapt out the broken window for he knew the hallucinations could kick in at any moment which could put her at risk.

"There's no point in running Batman.' yelled Crane, 'You're just as crazy as the rest of us!"

He knew the effects of the fear toxin would bend his perceptional grasp on his surroundings which he was prepared for as the rooms tilted and insects began sprouting through the seams of the tile. The last thing he could think of was to get to the Bat-mobile.

He found a window and choose it for his exit and grappled through it.

When he came through he landed not on concrete or asphalt but on an apartment floor. He looked up and found Barbara sitting with her father while talking when the door bell rang.

Barbara stood to get it with Batman rushing to her, "Barbara no!"

She opened the door and there stood Joker with a revolver while saying, "Here's to crime!"

Barbara ran as Joker took aim but Batman grabbed the clown and threw him into the ground while beating him savagely. Joker only laughed while saying, "Looks like it's end of watch for poor ol' Jimbo!"

Batman looked to see multiple Jokers surrounding the father and daughter and opened fire multiple times blasting several holes in each of them who screamed and fell to the ground together.

"Jim, Barbara!"

He rushed at all the Joker's and unleashed his ferocity, throwing them into the walls, breaking their ribs and slamming their heads into the floor.

One of the Joker's came up with a crow bar and hit Batman so hard he flew out of the apartment and into a warehouse. Batman got to a knee and gripped his side for it was the fractured rib sustained earlier that was struck.

He looked up and saw Robin lying on the ground with his hand tied behind his back, except it wasn't Tim. Batman's eyes softened, "Jason…?"

Joker then approached him with the crow bar and taunted, "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me!"

The Dark Knight rushed to his feet and tackled Joker while saying, "I won't let you take him again!"

He lifted up the clown and slammed into the ground with bone shattering might. He helped Robin up and said, "It's okay Jason I'm here."

He only stared at him who then heard cackling behind him. Looking abaft he saw Joker standing while massaging the crow bar and patting it in his palm. He then heard click and turned to see Robin holding a gun and aiming it at the clown.

"Jason, wait!" yelled Batman as he tried to disarm his former friend.

The bellowing blast of gunpowder filled the room in an instant. Batman saw Joker on the ground dead with a bleeding hole in his chest.

"Why Jason?"

"Because Brucey,' came the voice of Joker who was now the one dawning the Robin costume, 'me and that kid were alike in so many different ways. Just like us!"

Joker then pointing the gun past Batman's shoulders.

He turned to see it aimed down a dark alley with a mother, father and their young boy walking out the back. He looked back to see the gun was now being held by a shadowy thug.

Batman quickly seized the gun and broke the arm in the process before hurling the man into the ground, then jumped up and followed through with a stomp to the face. Batman heard his mother shriek while more thugs walked to them while backing them into the wall.

The Dark Knight went desperate as he leapt in and began doing all within his power to prevent the murder from happening. He threw batarangs, delivered punches and so much more to preserve his family. That's when he heard multiple gun shots.

The mother and father fell leaving the little boy alone. He turned to see a thug with a gun drawn but looked to Batman and shook his head. The Dark Knight re centered his focus back on the corpses only to find the gun that killed them was in his hand. He fell to his knees while the little boy sobbed and said to him, "W-why!? Why did you let them die!?"

The little boy then buried his face in his hands and began to weep. The thugs then closed in on the bat as he only stayed motionless on his knees. They then began to carry him off into the darkness.

As he was being dragged away Batman saw the little boy was no longer crying but beginning to laugh. He chortled and chuckled over the two dead bodies that were laying atop each other on the ground. That's when the boy turned his face towards Batman while laughing hysterically except this time his hair and eyes were green with blood staining his lips.

The caped crusader closed his eyes and soon lost consciousness.


End file.
